Israel’s Economy Sinks as Gaza War Deepens

The Israeli economy is in the doldrums, going from bad to worse because of the country’s war on Gaza. The recent shock is the fact that the US technology giant Intel  has halted the construction of its new $25-billion factory in Israel as reported by Anadolu.

The Israeli genocide has reflected badly on its economy in the last eight months. The massive war on the Gaza Strip has basically created an economic slump and a recession. It would take years for Israel to recover from.

Economic growth has shrunk by 20 percent in all economic sectors with construction and tourism taking the lead part. Thousands of stores are closing with Israeli companies suffering hundreds of millions of dollars. The figures are likely to be higher still today in June.

Israeli products have become so ashamed with the genocide its carrying out in Gaza, that companies are reverting to hiding the Israel tagmark on their products so they can be sold in other countries.

Israel is suffering massive losses from its war on Gaza

to the tune of $750 billion dollars. Around 50 percent of Israeli companies experienced a significant drop in their revenues.

This is because 11 percent of their workforce were called up for military service. And because of this only 37 percent of the Israeli companies operated with fewer than five of their employees in the past two weeks. These figures were up to 4 November, 2023, about one month into the war on Gaza.

So one imagine the economic situation in the country with Israel starting its nine months of war and genocide on Gaza.

As the war started 764,000 workers in the occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza became unemployed because they were no longer allowed to work in Israel. Palestinian workers form 18 percent of the total workforce in Israel. About 90,000 of these were working in the construction sector that is now at a standstill.

The Houthi naval blockade through Bab El Mandeb registered huge economic losses for Israeli ports. The Eilat Port in south Israel has come to a complete standstill since December 2023 when the Houthis started to target ships carrying goods to Israel.

This immediately resulted in huge economic losses to the tune of $3 billion because it effectively put an to trade with Far East that included China, Japan, South Korea and India.

Eilat was seen as a critical trade port but ships carrying goods to Israel ceased operating to the port in fear that they would be targeted by Houthi missiles.

Quickly however the war on Gaza deepend Israel’s economic crisis. In a Bloomberg report in May, it was revealed economic losses amounted to $16 billion.

The war had created a 6.6 percent deficit in the financial budget which increased by 7 percent of the GDP while spending increased by 36 percent in the first four months of 2024. This was mainly due to the fact that defense expenditure accounted for a third of Israeli spending.

The Israeli Central Bank had estimated that the cost of the Gaza war would be about $64.4 billion but now the figures could well be revised because of the determination by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue with the conflict for the foreseeable future.

Finally, the Israeli economy is suffering billions of dollars from cyberattacks. The National Cyber Directorate revealed last May that Israel loses $3.3 billion annually because of cyber attacks.

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Khan Younis: ‘We Will Work Amidst The Rubble’

Families are returning to live amidst the rubble of their destroyed homes in Khan Yunis. Despite the realities of their wrecked homes they are determined to make do and eventually rebuild their destroyed homes and livelihood.

Their homes were completely destroyed by the Israeli army who sorrounded the second largest city in the Gaza Strip in early December, 2023 and continued to bomb it.

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Despite much battles, Israeli army entered the city a month later and by early March 2024, they begun to leave the city under intense fighting from the Palestinian resistance. The battle of Khan Younis will be returned because of the number of Israeli soldiers who lost their lives.

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Returnees started to comeback after the Israelis pulled out; they came mostly on foot, the odd downtrodden truck and bicycles. But they were shocked by the state of callous and raw destruction.

They couldn’t believe what happened to their homes, shops and businesses, the scale of devastation, debris and wreckage.

However, the urge to return was exhilarating and continues today. This what defines Palestinians to their land, identity, culture and belonging.

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Palestinians are determined to stay even on the top of their wrecked houses. If they could find a tent to sleep in, all well and good but if not, they would sleep in the outside air, under the sun and skies and during the day, they would use their skills, toil and labour.

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The returnees would rather come back to a Khan Younis even if is in rubble form and wreckage.

They say everywhere is the same in Gaza; they are determined to rebuild their lives even in the ruins of their shops and homes because they have the “economic niche” to continue as one watch repairman told Al Jazeera English, adding “we need to start earning a wage to be able to live.”

Khan Younis, a city of 200,000 people was completely destroyed, its homes, schools, universities and colleges and its 1387 AD Barquq Castle all completely gone thanks to Israeli bombs, missiles and guns. It graves were dug up and at least 700 people were killed by Israeli troops and thrown in hastily made mass graves out side Al Nasser Hospital.

As of late however, The Times of Gaza documents the people who are still returning to their now destroyed homes. This is “home sweet home” even in a wrecked state.

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Ship Catches Fire in Haifa Port, Hezbollah Blamed

A commercial ship in the Port of Haifa has caught fire with thick smoke billowing into the air with Hebrew sources saying there could be deaths as a result.

Although it is yet unconfirmed, it is suggested that the fire was the result of a missile fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.  

This news is currently trending on social media. It is understood the ship caught fire while docking at the port, Monday evening.

Firefighters are battling the towering flames as shown in different video clips on the X platform.

The Israeli authorities are terming the fire as an accident but have opened an investigation into the incident. They won’t say or speculate about the causes of the flame that engulfed the Panama-flagged cargo vessel named YAF Horizon.

At first the ship was thought to be Israel-owned. Later on however, it became clear that YAF Horizon was a Turkish-owned ship carrying iron  and had been enroute to a Russian port but docked in the Haifa Port.

Ex-Mossad director Haim Tomar says Hezbollah is producing challenges to us that we never expected and the Israeli army has no answers for what is happening. 

He added the Israeli public should know that a comprehensive war would be a threat to the Zionist project and the future destiny of Accre, Tiberias and Haifa and Tel Aviv could be the same as Kiryat Shmona where fires there continued for at least 48 hours because of Hezbollah drone missiles recently.

This latest attack come days after the Houthis jointly attacked the Haifa port through a joint military action with an Iraqi-based militia according to Anadolu.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the first attack targeted two ships carrying military equipment at Haifa port, while the second targeted a vessel that violated a ban imposed on the port, the Turkish news agency reported.

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Palestinian Massacre Disguised as Rescue

By Dr Marwan Asmar  

It’s a criminal act under the eyes of the world. Israel’s Nusseirat massacre with the active cooperation of American help is grotesque by any standard for the 250 Israeli strikes made on the camp during this flagrant military operation.

The number of innocent Palestinians killed kept climbing up on the day of the massacre, Saturday, with the final death toll reaching 274 martyrs. These included 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people. Shameful is the fact, the massacre was carried out by Israeli soldiers, Shabak agents and members of the police who had been planning this for weeks.

The number of injuries was equally horrific as 698 people were injured during this killing spree that was backed from the air, sea and with ground tanks helping the infiltrators who went into the camp camouflaged in an aid truck and a car with Israeli tanks behind. Among the injured were 153 children, 161 women 54 elderly people according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

The shooting begun after the disguised aid lorry and a vehicle stopped in the middle of the housing area just outside the central market and begun the bloody mayhem. The lorry was at first thought to carry displaced people with their belongings but soon got out their machine guns and started shooting.  According to the Media Office soldiers were disguised in civilian clothing in ambulances with medical and health signals.

Hostages

The massacre was all made to rescue four Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October when they pushed through the barrier fence that blocked Gaza from the so-called Israeli territories. The four hostages, three men and a woman, were part of the 250 Israelis and foreigners that were taken back to Gaza by members of the Islamic organization on the fateful month and day.

Their rescue was seen as a major victory by Israel after 245 days of war destroying the Gaza Strip and killing its civilian population, earmarked at over 36,000 dead. The Israeli media was jubilant, ignoring the fact the operation was nearly botched with a major fight in getting to the four captives resulting in at least one Israeli soldier and at least three other captives getting killed, one of them an American citizen, though massive Israeli gunfire.

This fact is not yet receiving much attention in the media because it is given by a credible source from Hamas but it has become known the Nusseirat “rescue” operation was a heinous, diabolical affair for the Israeli occupation army bombed 89 houses and residential buildings inhabited by residents in the early hours of committing this massacre.

Eye witness reports say many of the houses were bombed over the heads of their residents without prior warning. Residents were shocked at the sudden bombs and missiles stuck from the air. These were made simultaneously to distract civilians from the underground operation to get to the four hostages reportedly held in different building and flats.

Women, children, men and old people, passerby were all in the line of fire for this was a busy area in between houses and the central market in West Nusseirat.

It is being described as another area genocide with a great impact on central Gaza and executed with dozens of warplanes, quadcopters, helicopters and drones with espionage and intelligence purposes, and tanks in more than four axes and directions, the Gaza Media office stated.

At the time of writing the Government Media office said it is yet to confirm which soldiers from different countries were used in the mass attacks on the camp but there is already confirmation that thousands of American soldiers have been stationed in Israel shortly after 7 October and are providing technical and logistical advice to the Israeli army.

Disturbing however, and as reported is the fact that the aid truck that was used to enter the Nusseirat camp was from the recently constructed American pier where US officials previously said they made this construct to make it easier to bring food to the starving Gazans imposed by Israel.

Social media commentators couldn’t but help make the comparison of the treatment between the Israeli hostages and those “limp” Palestinians coming out of Israeli prisons, spotlighting Noa Argamani with her father in a happy state.

One blogger commented on how Noa was treate and how Israelis treat Palestinians in their  prisons. The latter are old and haggard because they are denied basic things, are beaten, tortured and denied food.

Dr Marwan Asmar is a writer based in Amman covering Middle East affairs

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Massacre: Israel Kills 274 Gazans to Rescue 4 Hostages

Israel killed 274 Palestinians and injured 698 to secure the release of four Israeli hostages deep in the Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza.

What happened in Nuseirat is being described as the largest single massacre carried out by the Israeli army, using a special unit of the Shabak and Israeli police that went into the central market of the west of the camp early Saturday, backed by heavy bombardment from the air, sea and tanks. 

Bollywood-style rescue

An eyewitness in the camp described what happened as “unbelievable”, something from an Indian Bollywood movie with camfloudged men that came out of a lorry thought to carry displaced people and their furniture and started firing at everyone within distance.

The Israelis are seeing the bloody operation as a “great national success. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are patting themselves on the back for the release of the four hostages. They say now the release of the hostages – at around 120 – is only a matter of time with Netanyahu hinting at repeat operations of the same kind.

Hamas on the other hand, has been quick to respond, saying the release of four of its hostages after 245 days of an-eight-month bloody and destructive war was nothing to brag about. The Islamist organization now battling the Israeli army in all parts of Gaza says, the operation in broad daylight and carried out when the street markets are busy and full of people,  only shows the failure of the Israeli army and its strategy.

It added all that the Israeli did was carry out another massive killing spree on the civilians of Nuseirat.

The high death numbers are being confirmed by the Gaza government media office stating the number of the people killed and injured in this part of the enclave is unprecedented, adding the number of deaths is likely to climb because of the Israeli missiles that struck and buried people under the tons of wreckage and debris and as the number of those killed are dug up from under the rubble but this would take days. At least 80 homes were struck.

Worry is that extremist Israelis might now consider this scorched-earth policy which the army carried out since 7 October is finally bearing fruit and would continue. This is what Netanyahu believed all along, saying the only way to secure the release of the hostages is by more bombardment of Gaza. 

Two points need to be considered here, however. Spokesman of the Hamas Izz Al Din Al Qassam Brigade Obu Obeida said the military operation has come at a high cost for the Israelis. He added Netanyahu would realize that more hostages died in the operation as the following days will show.

One of the female hostages released among the other three male captives, Noa Argamani, said she nearly died four times as a result of Israeli bombing of the camp. She said the other two she was with didn’t make it and were killed thanks to the Israeli bombs.

It is clear however, the operation was carefully constructed and took weeks to plan with the help  of American intelligence and US officers previously working in Iraq with possible reconnaissance by the British.

Worried White House

Nevertheless, the White House may just be a little bit worried about what had just happened despite serving as the main supplier of weapons in this slaughter that saw the killing of over 36,000 people and the injury of over 82,000. Washington has sought to project a dual image since the beginning of this bloody conflict  despite remaining a loyal Israeli supporter.

On the face of it, US president Joe Biden wants a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with an end to the Gaza crisis that is complicated by the existence of Hamas. However, the White House is still banking on the release of the remaining hostages, some of whom are American citizens, and he would like to see more aid into the enclave to lighten the burden of starvation being openly implemented by the Israelis.

For Biden it’s a multi-layer role. While he keeps saying he is a “Zionist”, he is facing elections in November and wants to secure a return to the White House through Arab-American and Muslim voters but he can’t do that if he alienates them. There are many voters who say they will not vote for him because of his pro-Israeli policies in the war on Gaza already. But he is willing to see whether he can still turn the tables around.  

The snagging problem now is that with the release of the four hostages Netanyahu is likely to become even more intransigent on continuing the war on Gaza, believing his scorched-earth policy and the killing of more civilians will be the only way to get the rest of the hostages back, keeping alive his pipe-dream of ending Hamas and the Palestinian resistance. And with Biden not wanting to stop the arm-supplies to Israel, he will continue to support Netanyahu whatever he does.

What this means is that the war on civilians in Gaza will continue under the name of fighting the Palestinian resistance with Netanyahu in no mood for stopping despite the fact that the relatives of the hostages are still protesting and believe the only way to get their sons and daughters back is through negotiations and a ceasefire.

Netanyahu needs to understand as well Hamas is here to stay. Its not going anywhere as shown everyday by its strength on the Gaza battlefields. Unless he comes to this realization the war will continue and the chances of getting the hostages will be slim.

Commentators have been making a mockery of the latest release of the hostages. They say at a rate of four every eight months, it would take Israelis till at least 2030 to get its hostages back. So why keep waiting till then?

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