Israel closes Gaza border crossing after rocket attacks

Israel on Saturday announced an indefinite closure of the only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers and traders in response to rockets fired overnight by militants in the Palestinian enclave.

The punitive measure follows more than a week of violent confrontations at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem where more than 200 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades fired by Israeli security forces.

"Following the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday," Cogat, a unit of Israel's defence ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said.

The crossing had been closed since Thursday evening for the Jewish observance of Passover.

Cogat said the reopening of the Erez crossing would depend on "a security situational assessment".

Israel recently raised the number of Gazans allowed to cross into Israel for work to 12,000. Jobs in Israel offer a vital source of income for residents of Gaza, where the economy has stagnated under an Israeli blockade imposed after the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.

The Gaza workers union said the closure was “collective punishment” and would hurt the already suffering economy, where unemployment hovers around 50 per cent. It said the timing of the closure, just before the Eid Al Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, would compound the pain for families struggling to make ends meet.

Sami Amassi, head of the union, said the permits were meant to “exploit” the workers for political purposes, rather than improve their lives.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Wassem said the move “aims at tightening the siege and is a form of aggression that we cannot accept”.

“This will not succeed. The police of collective punishment against the Palestinians has always proven to fail,” he told Associated Press.

Palestinian workers leave the Hamas-controlled side of the Erez crossing from Gaza into Israel. EPA

Three rockets were launched at Israel from Gaza on Friday night and early on Saturday. No casualties were reported and the attacks did not trigger Israeli air raid sirens. One rocket fell short and landed near a residential building in northern Gaza, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

Israel carried out retaliatory strikes on Gaza after earlier rocket attacks on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hamas nor other militant groups in Gaza have claimed responsibility for the rocket launches, which are seen as retaliation for recent incursions into Al Aqsa Mosque and its compound by Israeli forces.

The Al Aqsa Mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam and is also revered by Jews, who are allowed to enter the compound but not pray there.

Israeli-Palestinian confrontations at the site last year helped to trigger an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants that claimed at least 256 lives, including 13 in Israel.

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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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