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The White House on Thursday said talks with Egypt and Israel were continuing over the creation of a humanitarian corridor that would allow civilians, including Palestinian Americans, to leave Gaza amid concerns over an Israeli ground invasion.
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said President Joe Biden's administration supports enabling the flow of assistance to residents of Gaza and for civilians to be able to leave through a humanitarian corridor.
“The first and most important thing that we're trying to do is allow for safe passage. Right now they can't leave so we would have no physical means of permitting that transit out,” Mr Kirby told journalists.
“We're actively having conversations with the Israelis and the Egyptians about a safe passage corridor so that people who want to leave, can leave.”
Mr Kirby's comments came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Israel in a show of solidarity. He vowed the US would “always be there” by Israel's side.
On Saturday, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to completely seal off the Gaza Strip. Israel has launched massive air strikes on the tiny enclave, flattening entire neighbourhoods and killing about 1,500 people so far.
And on Tuesday, air strikes on the Rafah border crossing with Egypt made the only other way out of the territory unusable.
Earlier this week, Israel cut off water, food, electricity and medicine to the territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, drawing concerns from the UN and aid organisations that the move would harm innocent civilians and lead to a humanitarian crisis.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Wednesday for “immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access” to civilians in Gaza and added that “there is no time to lose”.
Amid a massive call-up of Israeli army reservists, concerns were looming that Israel was preparing for a ground invasion.
Mr Kirby said allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza is “the right thing to do.”
The announcement came as an unknown number of Palestinian Americans have been unable to leave the Gaza Strip.
But some Palestinians in Gaza, many of them refugees from the 1948 war that led to the creation of state of Israel, are worried that if they are allowed to leave the enclave, they will not be allowed to return after the conflict ends.
“Our focus right now is making sure that – not all of them are going to want to leave – but to those who do, who really want to get out that they have the ability to get out,” Mr Kirby said.
“We know that Gaza is home for these people, and if they want to go back home, they should absolutely be allowed to go back home but they should be able to make those decisions, just like citizens anywhere should be able to make those kinds of decisions.”
On Thursday, US officials updated the number of Americans who are believed to have been killed to 27, and the number unaccounted for to 14.
Hamas gunmen are believed to have taken about 150 hostages in their attack on Saturday.
Mr Kirby also announced that starting on Friday, the US would evacuate Americans who have not been able to secure commercial transport out of Israel aboard charter flights to cities in Europe.
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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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