Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
The deaths of foreign aid workers in Israeli strikes on a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza shocked medics who attended the scene.
Three UK citizens, one from Poland, one Australian and one American-Canadian citizen were killed in the attack on three vehicles in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza. A Palestinian was also among the dead.
A video sent to The National showed Palestine Red Crescent Society medics arriving at the scene of the strikes to discover foreign citizens were among the victims.
Mahmoud Thabet said he was at the PRCS headquarters in the city at the time of the attack. “We actually heard the strike that hit the vehicles,” he said.
The PRCS received a call about the strikes at 10.25pm and arrived at the site five minutes later. Mr Thabet said the team found one vehicle on fire, with nobody inside.
Four bodies were found in the second car, he said. The victims died instantly, he added.
Hassan Al Shorbaji, a Palestinian civilian displaced from Beit Lahia to Deir Al Balah, said he was part of a group that discovered belongings left in one of the cars, after the bodies had been removed.
"Around midnight, we heard the sound of an explosion and we went to investigate the source of the noise," he told The National. "We saw that the vehicle of the World Central Kitchen had been hit by a small rocket but it was empty, as the individuals who were inside it had already been removed.
"The vehicle caught fire and we attempted to extinguish it, but we were unsuccessful.
"Before the fire started, we observed the contents of the vehicle and found canned food, books and brochures belonging to the relief association. It is obvious the Israeli occupation is targeting any relief [to] Gaza [that] could help people."
Israel says vehicles 'misidentified'
On Wednesday, Israel's army chief apologised for the strikes, saying the civilians were “misidentified” by the military.
The World Central Kitchen workers were killed in Deir Al Balah as they departed a warehouse filled with food aid.
“This incident was a grave mistake,” army chief Herzi Halevi said in a video message. “I want to be very clear – the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers.
“It was a mistake that followed a misidentification, at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”
He apologised for the “unintentional harm” caused to the US-based aid group, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres.
Israeli media reports suggest the three aid vehicles, which were marked with the WCK logo, were hit as a result of poor co-ordination within the military. The vehicles were hit in separate strikes over a stretch of coastal road deemed a “safe zone” by Israel.
The strikes occurred after an Israeli military unit identified an “armed man” in a lorry that travelled with the aid workers to a warehouse in Deir Al Balah, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. The unit was aware the armed man did not leave the warehouse, it said.
The cars travelled along a coastal route approved by the army. After the first car was hit by a missile, passengers ran to the other vehicles and notified the army of the attack.
A missile struck the second car and then the third vehicle was hit. It was carrying the aid workers injured in the initial strikes.
The final attack is believed to have happened about 1.5km from the first strike.
Army sources told Haaretz that military officers in Gaza “can do whatever they want”.
Every commander “sets the rules for himself” and develops their own interpretation of the rules of engagement required in armed combat, it reported a source as saying.
Relations 'put to the test'
The strikes have inflamed diplomatic tensions between Israel and the countries whose citizens were killed. The UK summoned Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely and demanded “full accountability” over the attack that killed three Britons, all army veterans.
Australia also called for accountability and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned relations with Israel were being “put to the test”.
US President Joe Biden said he was outraged by the attack and accused Israel of failing to protect aid workers and civilians. While Washington has continued to provide support to Israel during the Gaza war, relations are strained, particularly over Israel's insistence on invading the southern city of Rafah.
World Central Kitchen and other aid groups have halted operations in Gaza as a result of the strikes.
American Near East Refugee Aid, which worked with WCK and runs six community kitchens across southern Gaza, said the risk of delivering aid in the enclave “is far too great”.
The move comes as famine spreads across northern Gaza, killing at least 30 people in what remain of the enclave's struggling hospitals.
Malnutrition among children is spreading at a “record pace”, the World Food Programme warned on Wednesday. It said one in three children under the age of two were acutely malnourished.
Amal Fawzi, a 35-year-old woman who used to feed her children with the food distributed by WCK, is concerned about how she will now secure food for them.
"My son used to go to their food distribution point and he would return with food for his siblings to eat," she explained.
Ms Fawzi is now living in a tent in Deir Al Balah after her house was destroyed in Gaza, resulting in the loss of her husband.
"I have no source of income and no money to purchase food for my children," she said. "I hope they resume their operations and distribute food to us."
Hala Aboud, a 38-year-old who has been displaced from Gaza city to Khan Younis then to Rafah, received a box of cooked food from WCK and was grateful for the assistance, especially considering the scarcity of cooking gas and electricity.
"These food boxes alleviate some of the pressure on the family provider by offering cooked and canned food," she said.
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
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.”
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Everton%20Fixtures
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Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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T10 Cricket League
Sharjah Cricket Stadium
December 14- 17
6pm, Opening ceremony, followed by:
Bengal Tigers v Kerala Kings
Maratha Arabians v Pakhtoons
Tickets available online at q-tickets.com/t10
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency in the world. It was created in 2009 as a new way of paying for things that would not be subject to central banks that are capable of devaluing currency. A Bitcoin itself is essentially a line of computer code. It's signed digitally when it goes from one owner to another. There are sustainability concerns around the cryptocurrency, which stem from the process of "mining" that is central to its existence.
The "miners" use computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in Bitcoin. This uses a tremendous amount of energy via computers and server farms all over the world, which has given rise to concerns about the amount of fossil fuel-dependent electricity used to power the computers.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
if you go
The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.
