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Israel's military said on Saturday it has expanded operations, with infantry and armoured corps after entering northern Gaza overnight.
The army is “advancing in the stages of war” after “forces entered the northern area of the Gaza Strip and expanded the scope of ground operations” on Friday, military spokeswoman Ella Waweya told The National.
The military released grainy images of tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza and said warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers overnight.
“Infantry, armoured vehicles, engineering, and artillery forces are taking part in this operation, and it is accompanied by massive gunfire,” Capt Waweya said.
The Israeli military "in co-operation with the General Security Service [Shin Bet], last night eliminated other brigades commanders, including a commander in the Hamas air force and the commander of the naval force in the Gaza Brigade, who had planned and led an attempt to infiltrate Israeli territory via a beach of Zikim”, she said.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said ground forces were still "in the field" on Saturday, without elaborating.
Troops were being supported by fire from the air and sea, Rear Adm Hagari said.
He said Israel was "broadening the humanitarian effort" and would allow lorries carrying food, water and medicine to enter southern Gaza, addressing concerns about the plight of civilians in the Palestinian territory after three weeks of a total blockade and heavy bombardment that has claimed more than 7,000 lives.
On Friday, Israeli bombardment knocked out communications in Gaza, cutting off the 2.3 million people there from the outside world.
The blackout and the military's warning of intensified attacks increased speculation that Israel's long-expected invasion of Gaza was imminent.
Before internet and phone lines went down, foreign diplomats in Israel said they warned friends by messaging apps to stay indoors for the night, while messages from civilians and UN officials who work with Gazans flooded social media.
US officials painted a similar picture to ABC News on Friday evening.
The US and other allies have rallied around Israel since October 7, when Hamas militants stormed the fence separating Gaza from southern Israel and attacked communities nearby. More than 1,400 people were killed in the attacks and more than 200 taken hostage in the deadliest single-day assault the country has faced since it was founded in 1948.
Israel launched attacks on Gaza within hours, promising to destroy Hamas once and for all.
Israeli military experts who spoke to The National said that while securing the release of hostages was important, it was not the main priority – a major departure from earlier policy.
The experts said the focus had to be on totally destroying Hamas, or the militant group and its allies on Israel’s borders would adopt the same strategy again.
However, reports this week said the release of hostages was being pursued through Qatar, which has good connections with Hamas.
The US promised to do all it can to keep hostage talks going in the event of a ground invasion of Gaza.
There were also reports that Washington believes Israel is not prepared for a ground offensive, which would send its troops into one of the toughest environments for urban warfare.
Israel accuses Hamas of using civilian infrastructure in the densely populated territory to launch attacks, and its residents as human shields. The military claimed on Friday that Hamas’s main control centre was located under Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital.
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.”
The nine articles of the 50-Year Charter
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