Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
A new humanitarian foundation will soon be launched to deliver desperately needed food aid into Gaza, the US State Department said on Thursday.
An official announcement about the non-government “charitable foundation” is imminent, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said, noting that the organisation would provide food in a way that ensures it does not end up with Hamas,
“We welcome moves to quickly get urgent food aid into Gaza in a way … that the food aid actually gets to those to whom it's intended,” Ms Bruce told reporters. “It cannot fall into the hands of terrorists such as Hamas.”
Israel blocked all food and aid deliveries into Gaza after a ceasefire collapsed more than two months ago. The enclave's 2.3 million residents, already battered by 19 months of war, are now suffering through what many aid agencies describe as the worst starvation campaign in modern history.
Israel is locked in a dispute with aid groups over how future aid deliveries should be distributed. The UN and other aid organisations have rejected Israeli plans to deliver supplies through its own centres under conditions set by the military.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff briefed members of the UN Security Council about the plan on Wednesday at the US mission in New York.
The new organisation will be called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would be in charge of "Secure Distribution Sites", each built to serve 300,000 people, according to a document seen by Reuters and circulated among the aid community
“I was hoping to introduce it today, but the foundation will be announcing this shortly," Ms Bruce said.
Israel has accused agencies including the UN of letting aid to fall into the hands of Hamas, which it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for its own forces.
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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