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More than 10,000 children have been killed in almost 100 days of war in Gaza, Save the Children reported, quoting figures from the enclave's Health Ministry.
The deaths amount to almost 1 per cent of the estimated 1.1 million children in Gaza.
“For every day without a definitive ceasefire, 100 children on average have been killed," said Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, in a statement.
"There can never be any justification for killing children. The situation in Gaza is monstrous and a blight on our common humanity."
A total of 23,469 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the ministry, with women and children making up about 70 per cent of the casualties.
Most of those have been killed by Israeli air strikes and shelling, which have pounded the densely populated enclave daily since the start of the war on October 7.
Another 60,000 Palestinians have been wounded, ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said.
The ministry said Israeli forces killed 112 Palestinians and injured 194 on the 97th day of the war, which began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people on October 7.
On Thursday night, nine people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the house of the Abu Saneh family, on a street near Rafah in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported.
A separate air strike killed eight people in the Manara neighbourhood of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, witnesses and medical sources said.
Five civilians were also reportedly killed by Israeli shelling in the Zawaida area of central Gaza, the sources said.
The rising death toll comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel to limit civilian casualties, during his latest visit to the region last week.
Mr Blinken told reporters during a trip to Israel that fighting against an enemy who hides among civilians is “incredibly challenging” but said the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly on children, was "far too high”.
Hamas, which Israel has vowed to destroy, has been accused of using civilians as "human shields". The group denies the accusations.
Israel is currently defending itself from accusations of genocide in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The case has been brought by South Africa, which argues that Israel's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza amounts to genocide and "cannot credibly be argued to be a manhunt for members of Hamas".
Israel's bombardment has created conditions that "cannot sustain life" in the enclave and were "beyond any acceptable legal, let alone humane, justification", South Africa's delegation told the court.
The Israeli government dismissed the claims as "false and baseless" and said its military campaign to "eliminate Hamas" would continue.
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
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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