Medics look at the damages in the smoke-filled wards inside Al Shifa hospital following an Israeli raid. Reuters
Medics look at the damages in the smoke-filled wards inside Al Shifa hospital following an Israeli raid. Reuters
Medics look at the damages in the smoke-filled wards inside Al Shifa hospital following an Israeli raid. Reuters
Medics look at the damages in the smoke-filled wards inside Al Shifa hospital following an Israeli raid. Reuters

MENA

Palestine-Israel

Israeli claim of tunnel under Al Shifa hospital firmly rejected by Gaza Health Ministry

Israel says that Hamas has used the hospital, the largest in Gaza, as a command centre

The National

November 20, 2023

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Israel’s armed forces and Gaza's Ministry of Health presented competing claims on Sunday over an alleged tunnel found in the Al Shifa hospital complex, the biggest health centre in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers stormed Al Shifa hospital on Wednesday after encircling it and bombing areas adjacent to hospital buildings, killing scores of people, as around 1,500 people, 600 patients and around 700 staff sheltered inside.

On Sunday night, the Israelis released a video claiming to show a camera descending into a tunnel shaft at the hospital, which then adjoins a horizontal tunnel with a concrete roof.

Israel had long claimed that Hamas operates one of its main command and control centres under one of the hospital's 17 buildings, but initial searches and videos produced by the Israelis showed only 10-15 rifles and some hand grenades, and no evidence of a tunnel.

Hamas’ Health Ministry was quick to rebut the latest claim, with Mounir El Boursh, director of the Gaza Health Ministry, saying it was a “pure lie.”

Separately, the Israeli army published what it said was CCTV footage of two wounded hostages being taken into the hospital following the October 7 attack into southern Israel.

The Israelis said two hostages, “a Nepalese civilian and a Thai civilian, were abducted from Israeli territory and are seen surrounded by armed Hamas terrorists”. Hamas said it has already mentioned taking wounded hostages to hospital and that the footage was not a new revelation.

"We have released images of all that and the army spokesman is acting as if he has discovered something incredible," Hamas spokesman Izzat Al Rishq said in a statement.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health also rejected the claim that Al Shifa was used by Hamas, but added that if there had been wounded hostages taken there, it was a sign that health services were offering support to everyone affected by the crisis.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said that “given what the Israeli occupation reported, this confirms that the Ministry of Health hospitals provide medical services to everyone who deserves them, regardless of their gender and race", although he said the "authenticity of the pictures and videos that were shown cannot be verified".

The Israeli army also said that Noa Marciano, an Israeli soldier who was apparently wounded in an Israeli air strike, was murdered “at Al Shifa hospital” by Hamas, a claim also denied by Mr Al Qudra.

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What is the definition of an SME?

SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.

A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors. 

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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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Updated: November 20, 2023, 5:31 AM
GazaPalestineIsraelHospitals