Palestine Financial News

Israeli military says it has discovered tunnels underneath the main headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City, alleging that Hamas militants used the space as an electrical supply room. The unveiling of the tunnels marked the latest chapter in Israel's campaign against the embattled agency, which it accuses of collaborating with Hamas. Recent Israeli allegations that a dozen staff members participated in the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 plunged the agency into a financial crisis, prompting major donor states to suspend their funding as well as twin investigations. The agency says that Israel has also frozen its bank account, embargoed aid shipments and canceled its tax benefits. The army invited journalists to view the tunnel on Thursday.

Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to prepare to «evacuate» hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza's Rafah, his office said Friday, after Washington warned it would not support any ground assault on the city. The show of defiance against Israel's main ally came after President Joe Biden issued his strongest criticism yet of Netanyahu's conduct of the war, warning the response to Hamas's October 7 attack had been «over the top». Netanyahu told military and security officials to «submit to the cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions» of Palestinian militant group Hamas holed up in Rafah, a statement from his office said.

Moody's downgraded Israel's credit rating on Friday, citing material political and fiscal risks for the country from its war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The impact of the conflict raises political risk and weakens Israel's executive and legislative institutions, and its fiscal strength for the foreseeable future, said Moody's, which had begun the review for a downgrade on Oct. 19.

The director of the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinians says Israeli restrictions are preventing food for 1.1 million people from reaching war-battered Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the military to prepare a plan to evacuate the population of Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of the southern Gaza town. Netanyahu made the announcement Friday following international criticism of Israel's plan to invade the crowded town on Egypt's border. Israel says Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold and it needs to send in troops to complete its war plan against the Islamic militant group. But an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians have crammed into the town after fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza. Netanyahu said a «massive operation» is needed in Rafah. He said he asked security officials to present a «double plan» that would include the evacuation of civilians and a military operation to «collapse» remaining Hamas militant units.

terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th, and the outbreak of war in Gaza, there has been a sharp increase around the world in reports of antisemitic incidents. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an NGO based in New York City, says that in the two weeks after the attack the number in America quintupled compared with the same period last year. Britain and France have reported similar spikes.

By Ahmad Ghaddar

Residents of eastern Ohio can now get an up-close view in newly released videos of the toxic towers of fire that forced them from their homes last February when officials decided to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride they worried might...

Iran denied Monday any links to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three US military personnel and said it was not seeking an «expansion» of conflict in the Middle East. The killing of three American troops on Sunday in a strike in Jordan marked the first US military losses in the region since the Israel-Hamas war began. US President Joe Biden said "radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq" were behind the strike on the frontier base in Jordan's northeast. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reiterated a call for Iran «to de-escalate in the region». Iran lambasted what it described as «baseless accusations» and said they were a «projection» and part of a «conspiracy of those who see their interests in dragging America's foot into a new battle». «The Islamic Republic of Iran does not welcome the expansion of conflict in the region,» Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement, adding that Tehran «is not involved in the decisions of the resistance groups». Iran has previously said it sees it as «duty» to support what it calls «resistance groups» in the region but insists they are «independent» in decision and action. Sunday's strike also left 34 personnel wounded, eight of whom required evacuation, according to the US Central Command. US troops operate at the base known as Tower 22 near Jordan's border with Iraq and Syria as part of an international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group. Tensions have surged in the Middle East since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, leaving around 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Israel has since launched a

By Phil Stewart, Steve Holland and Idrees Ali

AP quoted US President Joe Biden as saying in a statement on 28 January. It is the first time American military personnel have been killed by hostile fire in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and the incident will further raise tensions in the region and fuel fears of a broader conflict directly involving Iran. Hamas said the death of the soldiers shows Washington's backing for Israel could put it at odds with the whole Muslim world if the Gaza war continues and that it could lead to a "regional explosion." "While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq," Biden said in a statement.

By Michelle Nichols

As much as 80% of Hamas’s vast warren of tunnels under Gaza remains intact after weeks of Israeli efforts to destroy them, U.S. and Israeli officials said, hampering Israel’s central war aims. Thwarting Hamas’s ability to use tunnels is the keystone to Israel’s effort to capture top Hamas leaders and rescue the remaining Israeli hostages, Israeli officials have said.

Israel vowed Saturday to stop the UN humanitarian aid agency in Gaza from operating after the war, and called for its chief to resign, after the sacking of staff accused of involvement in the October 7 attack. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday it had fired several employees over Israel's accusations, promising a thorough investigation into the claims, which were not specified.

By Jarrett Renshaw and Steve Holland

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Fadi Shana

What a day for the United Nations. Its International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a preliminary ruling Friday in South Africa’s case against Israel that managed to be both outrageous and meaningless. At the same time, its special forever-refugee agency for the Palestinians, Unrwa, had to fire staff accused of involvement in Hamas’s Oct.

Norfolk Southern's fourth-quarter profit fell 33% because of the ever growing costs of the cleanup of last year's fiery derailment in eastern Ohio

The U.N. trade body sounded an alarm Thursday that global trade is being disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine, and low water levels in the Panama Canal

The United Nations agency charged with delivering aid to Palestinians has fired staff members accused of being involved in the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was committed to international law after the World Court ordered it to take action to prevent acts of genocide in its war in Gaza, but he reiterated that it had a right to defend itself. Responding to a case brought by South Africa, Netanhayu said the charge of genocide was «outrageous».