An Israeli sapper checks a damaged apartment in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, after rockets were fired by the Hamas movement from the Gaza Strip towards Israel overnight. AFP
A Palestinian man looks on at the site of an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Reuters
A man inspects the rubbles of a building destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. AFP
A view shows the site of an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Reuters
The rooftop of a building is seen destroyed following an Israeli air strike at al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City. AFP
A Palestinian searches for survivors under the rubble of a destroyed rooftop, after a residential building was hit by Israeli missile strikes at Al Shati refugee camp, in Gaza City. AP
Rockets fired from Gaza fly towards Israel. EPA
A relative of a Palestinian killed during Israeli-Palestinian clashes is comforted at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters
A Palestinian civil defence member checks the rubble of an apartment destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. AFP
A man uses his mobile phone to photograph the remnants of a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Reuters
Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, above the southern city of Ashkelon. AFP
Fire billow from Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
Palestinians at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
A Palestinian man carries a wounded girl at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
A Palestinian boy receives medical care at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
Palestinians inside a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
An Israeli man checks debris at a house on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip fell. AFP
A drone image shows an area on the outskirts of Jerusalem reportedly hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip. Reuters
As thousands of ultranationalist Israelis gathered on Monday night to mark the anniversary of the seizure of East Jerusalem, air raid sirens rung out in the holy city as rockets flew in from Gaza.
The wail of the sirens initially caused confusion in the crowds.
They're just flexing muscles to show they can hit that far
Unlike in Tel Aviv or towns bordering the blockaded strip where such sounds are not uncommon when skirmishes break out between Israel and Gaza’s armed groups, Jerusalem has not come under direct rocket fire since 2014.
Monday night’s attacks, coming amid the worst outbreak of violence in the holy land in years, have already sparked a series of airstrikes and retaliatory rockets that lasted through the night and into Tuesday.
So far, at least 25 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza – including at least nine children – and two have been killed in Israel while six others were wounded.
Michael Stephens, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that the targeting of Jerusalem was symbolic for the militants and stemmed from what he says were provocative Israeli actions at Al Aqsa Mosque.
“I think the targeting was in response to it being a Jerusalem centric incident,” he said.
On Monday, police raided Al Aqsa in response to what they said was hundreds of people throwing rocks at officers ahead of controversial Israeli Jerusalem Day celebrations. Over 700 Palestinians were wounded in Monday’s clashes.
Anger was already bubbling through Ramadan over the potential eviction of Palestinians by Israeli settlers from the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
“The tensions have just risen to a head with these particular ‘real estate disputes’,” he said.
“The Israelis have then made it way worse by policing badly.”
Mr Stephens said he believed neither side had anything to gain from the current conflict.
Joe Truzman, an analyst with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said the targeting of Jerusalem was very out of character for Hamas and the other armed groups in Gaza.
“It almost doesn't make sense. Because they could have hit Al Aqsa,” he said.
He said he believes the move could be a sign that the conflict will not end anytime soon.
“In 2014, during the Gaza War, they fired on Jerusalem. One of the rockets did land near an Arab majority area. It's just showing they're just flexing muscles that they can hit that far,” he says.
But Mr Truzman warns that despite “muscle-flexing” the conflict could be one of the worst for some years.
“These groups previously keep firing until they are satisfied their objective has been met. In this case, obviously with the constant fighting, unpredictable things happen such as the recent killing of senior members of Hamas. So, they responded to that with multiple waves of rocket attacks, towards [the Israeli town of] Ashkelon.”
The rocket fire on Ashkelon on Tuesday killed two Israelis.
“So it is hard to say when it stops,” he said.
Mr Truzman says it is possible foreign mediation could yet calm the conflict.
“In previous negotiations for ceasefires, especially in 2018 and 2019, you had Egypt playing a critical role negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, so it could happen. But it's just honestly a guess because right now things are pretty bad,” he said.
“You know, two people have died already in Israel, according to reports so Israel will feel the need to respond to that.”
Mr Truzman says that a key figure renowned for de-escalating tensions was Nikolay Mladenov, former UN special envoy for the Middle East Peace Process.
Mr Mladenov cultivated a strong reputation for calming tensions in prior conflicts. But he left his post in December.
“He was very good at this. He was very good at bringing the two sides together and creating calm, but he's not there anymore. So yeah, so this is going to be interesting. We'll see how long this lasts.”
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed Fixtures and results:
Monday, UAE won by three wickets
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake
Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars”
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
