Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
The Israeli army intensified attacks on the health system in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, where troops evicted patients from the Indonesian Hospital, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said.
Patients from the Indonesian Hospital, one of the few centres that are at least partially functioning, moved south towards Gaza city, some of them on foot, after troops forced entry on Tuesday morning, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, quoting witnesses.
The Indonesian Hospital is one of three still functioning in northern Gaza, an area that has been under heavy Israeli military pressure for nearly three months. Israel said its operations around the towns of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia are focused on eliminating Hamas militants.
The health ministry said all departments of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia and its surroundings were being bombed. Wafa reported artillery shelling in the area.
“We appeal to all international and UN institutions and concerned parties to urgently intervene to protect the health system in the Gaza strip in the face of this fierce attack by the Israeli occupation,” the ministry said.
Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan, said military robots approached it on Monday and unloaded boxes of explosives which were then detonated, injuring 20 people including five medical workers.
Israeli military drones had also been dropping explosives on buildings around the hospital since Tuesday morning, resulting in fires, he said.
“Everyone moving inside the hospital is in danger. The drones target any moving person.”
Dr Abu Safiya said the army had its sights on the hospital's electricity generators. There are 65 patients at Kamal Adwan.
“We have appealed to the international community but so far no one promised to intervene and stop the attacks on us,” he said.
The World Health Organisation said it delivered 5,000 litres of fuel and 100 units of blood to the hospital at the weekend. Eight patients were transferred to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
Israel continued attacks elsewhere in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least nine people, including a member of the civil emergency service, in four separate strikes, medics said.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's campaign against Hamas has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza, and more that 107,000 injured. Most of the population of 2.3 million population has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
Unicef said on Tuesday that since the beginning of the war 14,500 children have been reported killed in Gaza. “One child gets killed every hour. These are not numbers. These are lives cut short.”
The latest efforts by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the US to end the fighting and obtain the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, has gained momentum this month, although no breakthrough has been reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said progress had been made in hostage negotiations with Hamas but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results.
Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials' remarks on Monday, although crucial differences have yet to be resolved.
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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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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
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