Palestine Financial News

Oil and gold could see sharp price swings this week as the United States and other world powers try to slow the war in the Middle East to bring in humanitarian aid and negotiate the release of Israeli prisoners from Palestinian hold, even as Jerusalem vows to continue its mission of dislodging Hamas from Gaza.

firepower. Israeli warplanes are striking targets across Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive in the besieged Hamas-ruled territory. Fears of a widening war have grown as Israel struck targets in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon and traded fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

By Mohi Narayan

(Reuters) -Escalating tension in the Middle East and surging U.S. bond yields set financial markets up for more turbulence, exacerbated by high oil prices and China's property pain.

Israel-Hamas war: At a time the war between Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas fighters in Gaza, a lot of Palestinians have list their live. the war also saw the world divided in their allegiances.

“We expect nominal GDP growth of 10% to 11% in the next 12 months, which should be in line with 11% to 13% return for large cap indices,” says Pradeep Gupta, Co-founder & Vice-Chairman, Anand Rathi Group. In an interview with ETMarkets, Gupta said: “Market timing and the selection of specific instruments within an asset class explain only about 10% of portfolio return variability” Edited excerpts: October is turning out to be a roller coaster ride for investors in equity markets. Will geopolitical concerns have a long-term impact on equity markets if things escalate? Major indices across the globe witnessed sharp volatility in the past couple of weeks due to the rising Israel-Palestine war. In the same week, we witnessed the U.S. stock-index futures fall over 0.5%, Nifty was down ~140 bps pts.

Biden administration has advised Israel to delay a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave, according to several U.S. officials. U.S.

Gaza with air strikes early on Monday and its aircraft struck southern Lebanon overnight, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top generals and his war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict. Israel's attacks concentrated on the Gaza Strip's centre and north, Palestinian media reported. A strike on a house near the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, killed several Palestinians and wounded others, according to media reports.

northern Gaza, many people there said doing so was not an option because of cost — and that it was no guarantee of safety. The Israeli military said Saturday night that it would intensify its already punishing bombardment of the besieged enclave ahead of an expected ground invasion. In Arabic-language leaflets dropped over the Gaza Strip on Saturday, it reiterated calls for people to move south, warning that anyone who did not «may be considered a partner in a terrorist organization.» But Amani Abu Odeh, who lives in the town of Jabalia in Gaza's north, said that the danger of Israeli airstrikes on the road had pushed up the cost of travel.

Oil prices eased on Monday as aid convoys started to arrive in the Gaza Strip over the weekend amid diplomatic efforts to contain a conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from spreading to the wider oil-rich region. Brent crude futures fell 60 cents to $91.56 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 61 cent to trade at $87.47 a barrel at 0038 GMT. For the past week, contracts rose more than 1% for a second consecutive weekly jump, on fear of potential supply disruption if the Israel-Hamas war grows into a wider confrontation in the Middle East, the world's biggest oil-supplying region. «Israel agreed to hold off its attack on Hamas following pressure from the U.S.,» ANZ Research said in a client note.

«We expect the earning season to pick up pace in a truncated week which would direct the market trend along with global cues,» said Siddhartha Khemka, Head — Retail Research, Motilal Oswal. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions: STATE OF THE MARKETS GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a positive start GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded higher by 83.5 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 19510, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for positive start on Monday.

By Andrea Shalal and Kanishka Singh

By Kanishka Singh and Crispian Balmer

Rafah border point on Sunday, even as Israel stepped up airstrikes on Gaza, including one it said killed the deputy head of the Hamas regional artillery array. The UN Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinian refugees said it would “run out of fuel, critical for our humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip” in three days and that the aid convoys rolling into Gaza were “far from enough,” according to a statement. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called on all parties to immediately allow fuel supplies into Gaza. “Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance,” he said. The agency is currently hosting more than half a million people out of nearly 1 million displaced across the Gaza Strip.

China believes “force is not a way to resolve” the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and is once again calling for a ceasefire, its envoy for the Middle East pleaded in Egypt, the foreign ministry said Sunday. Egypt on Saturday hosted a “summit for peace” where UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for swift “action to end this godawful nightmare” after two weeks of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. Beijing’s envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, met Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit on the sidelines of the summit. The Chinese diplomat called for an «immediate ceasefire and an end to the fighting as quickly as possible», his ministry said in a statement.

medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief materials have been sent to Palestine that will reach Gaza via Egypt, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to reiterate India's long-standing position on the Palestinian question. Taking to X, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi wrote on Sunday, «An IAF C-17 flight carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for the people of Palestine departs for El-Arish airport in Egypt.» The items will be sent to Palestine via the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. Bagchi informed that the humanitarian aid includes «essential life-saving medicines, surgical items, tents, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, sanitary utilities, water purification tablets, among other necessary items». India's aid to Palestine comes three days after the PM spoke to Abbas. During their conversation on Thursday, Modi had said that India would keep sending humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians.

By Kanishka Singh

Hezbollah announced the deaths of five more militants as clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border intensified and the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon on Sunday not to let itself get dragged into a new war. The tiny Mediterranean country is home to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim political party with an armed wing of the same name. Israeli soldiers and militants have traded fire across the border since Israel's war with the Palestinian group Hamas began, but the launches so far have targeted limited areas.

Gaza as the army bombards the Palestinian enclave. The Egyptian military said the blast had caused «minor injuries» but did not give details. «The IDF (Israeli military) expresses sorrow regarding the incident» near the Kerem Shalom area, an army statement said. «The incident is being investigated and the details are under review,» the statement added. The Egyptian army said Israel had «immediately expressed its regret over the unintentional incident and an investigation is underway». Egyptian media said the Israeli strike would not disrupt the passage of aid to Gaza, citing witnesses. Since Saturday, 37 trucks carrying vital supplies have crossed to Gaza through its Rafah border post with Egypt, which lies around three kilometres (two miles) from Israel. Crossings between Gaza and Israel have been shut since the outbreak of war on October 7. The United Nations has estimated about 100 trucks per day are needed to meet the needs of Gaza, where more than 4,650 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas government. The bombardment follows attacks by Hamas militants which killed more than 1,400 people in Israel.

Hamas, several Merkava tanks and troops have been positioned by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) near the Gaza border in South Israel. The visuals showed a significant presence of troops, armoured vehicles, and tanks near the Gaza border. Notably, the Israeli government has announced its intention to launch a ground operation against Hamas in the near future. The Merkava, a series of main battle tanks utilized by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serves as the cornerstone of the IDF's armoured corps. Its development commenced in 1970, with the inaugural version, the Merkava Mark 1, officially commissioned in 1979. Over time, four primary iterations have been put into service.

war mushrooming into a wider Middle East conflict rose on Sunday with the U.S. sending more military assets to the region as Israel pummelled Gaza anew and deadly clashes along its border with Lebanon intensified. Gaza's Health Ministry said 266 Palestinians, including 117 children, had been killed by Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours in the enclave, to which Israel laid «total siege» after a deadly mass infiltration into Israel by Hamas gunmen on Oct. 7. In neighbouring Syria — where Hamas's main regional backer Iran has a military presence — Israeli missiles hit Damascus and Aleppo international airports early on Sunday, putting both out of service and killing two workers, Syrian state media said. Along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group has clashed with Israeli forces in support of Hamas in the deadliest escalation of frontier violence since an Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. Hezbollah said four fighters were killed in heavy exchanges of fire on Sunday and another died of wounds sustained earlier, raising to 24 the number of its members killed since Oct. 7.