Palestine Financial News

intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon -- both backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- raising fears that the Gaza conflict could expand further throughout the region. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it lost five members in the strike that it blamed on Israel, its regional arch-foe, updating an earlier toll from four. Hamas condemned what it called a "heinous crime".

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Fadi Shana

By Kinda Makieh and Laila Bassam

Houthi attacks on ships in the southern Red Sea or Gulf of Aden, which continue to occur almost daily. The Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, claim their actions in the Red Sea corridor are in response to Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza conflict, now in its fourth month, stands as one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history.

southern Gaza Strip threatened the few healthcare facilities still open, Reuters reported. The Red Crescent said displaced people were injured due to intense gunfire from the Israeli drones targeting citizens at Al-Amal Hospital as well as the rescue agency's base. In the same city, Israeli tanks were also approaching Gaza's biggest remaining functioning hospital, Nasser, where people reported hearing hellfire from the west.

Hezbollah on Friday warned Israel would «receive a real slap in the face» if it expanded the conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border. Since the surprise October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, there have been near daily exchanges of cross-border fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian militants. Israel has repeatedly bombarded border villages, with the violence killing more than 195 people in Lebanon, including at least 142 Hezbollah fighters, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 15 people have been killed, of whom nine were soldiers and six civilians, according to the Israeli army. «If Israel decides to expand its aggression, it will receive a real slap in the face in response,» Hezbollah's number two, Naim Qassem, said in a statement. Any restoration of stability on the border is contingent on «the end of the aggression in Gaza», he added. «The enemy must know the party is ready, that we are preparing based on the principle that an endless aggression can happen, just like our will to push back the aggression is infinite.» His remarks came after Israeli air strikes «completely destroyed» at least three houses in southern Lebanon on Friday, the official Lebanese news agency NNA and the mayor of the affected border community said. The agency reported four houses were targeted «since this morning by the Israeli air force in Kfar Kila», a village near the Israel-Lebanon border, while three were «completely destroyed». A fifth home was also targeted by artillery fire, NNA said. The Israeli army said on Friday it had «conducted air strikes and carried out artillery and tank fire against Hezbollah observation posts and terrorist infrastructure» in the Kfar Kila

Palestinian lives and properties by Israel backed by the US, Iran sprung a surprise by launching missile and drone attacks in its neighbourhood. The Iranian strikes against, what it claimed to be, a «Mossad-affiliated spy base» in Erbil (Iraq) and a «terrorist-affiliated» headquarter in Idlib (Syria) were followed by similar attacks against «terrorists» of Jaish al Adl in Balochistan (Pakistan) on January 16-17.

RAMALLAH, West Bank—The Israeli-occupied West Bank has become an increasingly deadly front in a Middle East conflict that has spread beyond the war in Gaza, with near-daily Israeli raids into Palestinian villages and cities which Israel says are aimed at uprooting growing militant activity and preventing new attacks. Early on Friday, Israeli security forces ended a two-day raid in Tulkarem, a West Bank city straddling the wall separating Palestinian communities and Israel that hasn’t been known as a hotbed of militancy in recent years, leaving at least eight Palestinians dead. The raids, which lasted for more than 35 hours, occurred in the city and its two refugee camps, Tulkarem and Nour Shams, where residents said Israeli forces destroyed homes and damaged infrastructure, including roads.

An estimated 320 journalists around the world were imprisoned because of their work toward the end of 2023

Houthi anti-ship missiles directed at the Red Sea. As reported by Reuters, escalating tensions in the region's maritime routes have caused disruptions in global trade, leading to concerns about potential supply constraints that could potentially revive inflation.

By Jonathan Saul

Israel’s president says normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be a key element of ending the war with Hamas and a game-changer for the entire Middle East

With war in Ukraine, tensions in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, Israelis fighting Hamas in Gaza, and missiles flying through the skies from the Red Sea to Pakistan, Davos Man wants to know how Uncle Sam plans to restore order. The Biden administration doesn’t want its allies and adversaries to think things are spinning out of control, so Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan dropped into Davos to reassure all and sundry that the Americans are on the job. Mr.

INS Vishakhapatnam reportedly responded to a drone attack distress call in the Gulf of Aden. The drone attack distress call was made from Marshall Islands-flagged vessel in the Red Sea.

diplomats of Iran and the United States sit down for public — and separate — one-on-one chats while the U.N. chief and leaders of France, Argentina and Spain will deliver speeches as the World Economic Forum's annual meeting saunters into a busy second day on Wednesday. The elite gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos takes a turn toward the environmental and climate concerns that have animated plea after plea from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the world to come together do take more united action against global warming — after a record-hot year in 2023.

Houthi rebels to a list of terrorist groups, as the militants claimed their second attack this week on a U.S. operated vessel in the Red Sea region. Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers — an escalation of the more than three-month-old war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as OPEC forecast relatively strong growth in global oil demand over the next two years and a cold blast in the U.S. disrupted some oil production. Brent crude futures gained 28 cents to $78.16 a barrel by 0004 GMT, and U.S.

Houthis has said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include US ships in response to the American and British strikes. In a sign it remains undeterred, the Houthi movement on Wednesday said it made a "direct hit" with missiles on the US Genco Picardy bulk carrier. This second attack was confirmed by US shipping company Genco, saying that its ship was struck by a projectile while it was travelling through the Gulf of Aden carrying phosphate rock.

Medicine is en route to Gaza after Qatar and France worked out a deal between Israel and Hamas

(Reuters) — Business chiefs warned on Wednesday that disruption to shipping in the Red Sea caused by attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen could affect supply chains for months and lead to a shortage of tankers needed to transport fuel.

oil markets will cope with Red Sea disruptions in the short run, although prolonged attacks by the Houthis on ships would lead to a shortage of tankers due to longer voyages and a supply delay, the CEO of Saudi oil giant Aramco said. Amin Nasser told Reuters he expected the oil market to tighten after consumers depleted stocks by 400 million barrels in the last two years, which left OPEC's spare capacity as the main source of additional supply to meet rising demand. Attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea have forced many companies to divert cargoes around Africa. The Iran-aligned Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians during Israel's ongoing war with Gaza. «If it's in the short term, tankers might be available… But if it's longer term, it might be a problem,» Nasser said in an interview on the sidelines of this week's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. «There will be a need for more tankers and are they going to have to take a longer journey». Container vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea that leads to the Suez Canal, the fastest route from Asia to Europe, where about 12% of world shipping passes.