Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
One week on from the Israeli assassination of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, suffering in Gaza continues to worsen, with a deadly Israeli siege on the north tightening.
More than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the past 20 days of siege, according to estimates from the enclave's health ministry, which has described “catastrophic” suffering in the north and entire neighbourhoods wiped off the map.
Shortly after Mr Sinwar's killing, Israeli officials hinted his death would renew hopes for ceasefire talks and the end of a war that has now killed more than 42,800 Palestinians across Gaza and wounded at least 100,544 others.
Israel, however, has continued attacks across the enclave, intensifying the siege on the north, where little food, water or medical aid has entered since October 6.
The north “has been subject to most heinous massacres”, the official Wafa news agency said on Thursday, describing constant air strikes, shelling and gunfire on hospitals and “residential areas that no longer exist”.
Israeli strikes and raids have focused on Jabalia refugee camp, the largest in Gaza, where soldiers have attacked hospitals.
“Injured people are becoming martyrs almost every hour due to a lack of supplies, medical staff and equipment,” Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said in a video message on Thursday.
Hospital staff have been killed, wounded and arrested by Israeli forces in recent weeks, he said. He warned that the hospital will turn into a “mass grave” if the siege does not end.
“We have no blood bags to give to the wounded, no medical supplies or medicines that we urgently need,” the director added.
They want to kill us slowly, and they seem satisfied with our suffering
Fatma Mohammed,
75
Dozens of bodies lie in the streets of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, Wafa added, with the Israeli army shooting at medical crews and anyone attempting to enter or leave hospitals.
“There is a clear escalation in the Israeli military tactics in the current northern Gaza operations,” civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told The National. “The Israeli army is actively preventing rescue teams from operating in northern Gaza and directly targeting them. As a result, there are currently no rescue services available in the northern region. While civil defence workers are present, Israeli forces are not allowing them to provide any assistance.”
A mother and her child were among the latest victims of Israeli strikes on Jabalia on Thursday, Wafa added, with several others wounded in Israeli shelling on the camp. Gazans told The National they feel they have been left to stand alone.
“The situation is unbearable – no food, no clean water. They want to kill us slowly, and they seem satisfied with our suffering,” said Fatma Mohammed, 75, from Gaza city.
“We thought that after Sinwar's death, Netanyahu would end his war, having achieved his objectives. But now it’s clear he’s aiming to wipe out the Palestinian people, and no one is stepping in to save us or give the poor any glimpse of hope.
“What’s happening in Jabalia is beyond words. It’s as if they're telling us that no one will come to our aid, and our fate is solely in their hands.”
Famine and polio threat worsening
Famine is worsening in the north, according to Unicef, where the Israeli siege has also suspended UN efforts to administer the second dose of polio vaccines to more than 119,000 children.
The UN and Palestinian partners postponed the third and final phase of inoculations in Gaza's north on Wednesday “due to escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses”, Unicef said.
While the risk of polio rises, parents in Jabalia said their main worry is feeding their children and surviving Israeli attacks.
“It doesn’t matter to us anymore if our children get vaccinated or not, whether it’s postponed or on time,” said Sanaa Hamouda, a 62-year-old displaced Palestinian sheltering in Jabalia refugee camp.
“If the children don’t die from disease, they’ll die from the ongoing massacre that the world is witnessing. The children are going to perish from lack of food and water.”
Elsewhere in Gaza, 17 people were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday morning.
The latest attacks came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued a regional tour – his 11th since last October – aimed at ending the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Talks between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, have borne no fruit since a temporary truce last November.
It remains unclear who will succeed Mr Sinwar as the political head of Hamas. Sinwar had replaced Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in an Israeli air strike on Tehran in July.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
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Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
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