Israeli aircraft struck more than a dozen targets in Gaza, the Israeli army said on Sunday, after Palestinian rocket fire shattered a ceasefire reached just days ago following the worst flare-up since a 2014 war.
The latest escalation came hours after thousands of Palestinians attended the funeral of a young female volunteer medic killed by Israeli fire in violence on the border in southern Gaza.
In a first wave of air strikes, Israeli "fighter jets targeted 10 terror sites in three military compounds belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli army said in a statement early on Sunday.
"Among the targets were two Hamas munition manufacturing and storage sites and a military compound," it said.
The strikes were said to be in retaliation to rockets fired at Israel, as well as "various terror activities approved and orchestrated by the Hamas terror organisation over the weekend," the army said.
The army listed a series of attempted attacks on soldiers on the border fence, as well as "damaging security infrastructure and igniting fires in Israeli territory with the use of arson kites and balloons".
A few hours later aircraft shot at "five terror targets at a military compound belonging to the Hamas terror organisation's naval force in the northern Gaza Strip," the army said in a separate statement.
There was no report of casualties in Gaza.
On Saturday evening, armed groups in the Palestinian enclave fired two projectiles at southern Israel, where air raid sirens sent residents to bomb shelters.
Read more: Mourning and anger over medic killed by Israel
The Iron Dome aerial defence system intercepted one of the projectiles, while the other was believed to have fallen short of its target and came down in Gaza, according to the army.
Early on Sunday, four more projectiles were launched at Israel. Three were intercepted, the army said, with the fourth apparently hitting an open field.
No group in Gaza claimed responsibility for the projectile attacks, which came shortly after the Saturday funeral of Razan Al Najjar, a 21-year-old volunteer with the Gaza health ministry, who was fatally shot in the chest near Khan Yunis on Friday.
Ambulances and medical crews attended the funeral, with Najjar's father holding the white blood-stained medics' jacket she wore when she was killed, as mourners called for revenge.
Gazans have since March 30 staged border protests demanding Palestinians be allowed to return to land they fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, now inside the Jewish state.
More than 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition on protesters. About 13,000 demonstrators have been wounded, more than 3,000 by Israeli gunfire.
As well as protesting, Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave have been using kites carrying burning cans to set ablaze Israeli fields, burning patches of agricultural land near Gaza.
Following the funeral, several Gazans were wounded in clashes east of Khan Yunis, health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said.
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The Israeli army said "a terror cell" had infiltrated from southern Gaza. Soldiers shot at the Palestinians, who returned to the enclave.
The weekend launches were the first since Israel struck scores of sites in Gaza last week in retaliation for a barrage of rockets and missiles fired from the territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the strikes that Israel's military had delivered the "harshest blow" in years to Gaza's armed groups.
Palestinian groups in Gaza, including the strip's rulers Hamas, said a ceasefire deal was reached after the flare-up, although there was no confirmation from Israel.
Addressing Najjar's death, the UN envoy for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, said in a Saturday tweet that "Medical workers are #NotATarget!" and that "Israel needs to calibrate its use of force and Hamas needs to prevent incidents at the fence".
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society said Najjar was shot "as she was attempting to provide first aid to an injured protester", with three other first responders also hit by live fire on Friday.
"Shooting at medical personnel is a war crime under the Geneva conventions," the PMRC said in a statement, demanding "an immediate international response to Israeli humanitarian law violations in Gaza".
Najjar's death brings the toll of Gazans killed by Israeli fire since the end of March to 123.
The demonstrations and violence peaked on May 14, when at least 61 Palestinians were killed in clashes as tens of thousands of Gazans protested against the US transfer of its embassy in Israel to the disputed city of Jerusalem the same day.
Low-level demonstrations have continued since.
Speaking at Najjar's funeral, Khaled Al Batsh, one of the protest organisers, called on Gazans to "continue the return marches and break the [Israeli] siege with peaceful tools".
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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The bio
Favourite book: Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Favourite quote: “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist
Favourite Authors: Arab poet Abu At-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi
Favourite Emirati food: Luqaimat, a deep-fried dough soaked in date syrup
Hobbies: Reading and drawing
MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
England's lowest Test innings
- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887
- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994
- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009
- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948
- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888
- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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.”
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
