Month: June 2024

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Kamel Hamdan

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -Israeli forces advanced further on Sunday into the Shejaia neighbourhood of northern Gaza and also pushed deeper into western and central Rafah in the south, killing at least six Palestinians and destroying several homes, residents said.

Israeli tanks, which moved back into Shejaia four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, the residents said.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his position that there was no substitute for achieving victory in the war against Hamas.

“Our forces are operating in Rafah, Shejaia, everywhere in the Gaza Strip. Dozens of terrorists are being eliminated every day. This is a difficult fight that is being waged above ground, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat, and below ground as well,” Netanyahu said.

“We are committed to fighting until we achieve all of our objectives: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel and returning our residents securely to their homes in the south and the north,” he added.

The Israeli military said forces operating in Shejaia had over the past day killed several Palestinian gunmen. Israeli forces located military infrastructure inside a United Nations school and discovered dozens of weapons and “valuable intelligence documents”, the military also said.

On Saturday the military announced the death of two Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza.

At another raid in Shejaia, the forces located a “terrorist war room” at a clinic, said the military, which again accused Hamas of “embedding itself in civilian structures for terror purposes”.

Hamas denies using civilian sites such as schools and hospitals for military purposes.

The armed wing of Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad reported fierce fighting in both Shejaia and Rafah, saying their fighters had fired anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs against Israeli forces operating there.

More than eight months into Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza, militants continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces, operating in areas that the Israeli army said it had gained control over months ago.

Arab mediators’ efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to secure a ceasefire. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.

RAFAH DEATHS

In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israeli tanks pushed deeper into several districts in the east, west and centre of the city, and medics said six people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Shaboura, in the heart of the city.

The six bodies from the Zurub family were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis. On Sunday, dozens of relatives paid their respects before the bodies, which were wrapped in white shrouds, and then carried them in their arms to prepared graves.

Residents said the Israeli army had torched the Al-Awda mosque in the centre of Rafah, one of the city’s best-known.

Israel has said its military operations in Rafah are aimed at eradicating the last armed battalions of Hamas.

The Israeli military said on Sunday its forces continued “targeted, intelligence-based” operations in Rafah, killing several gunmen in different encounters and dismantling tunnels.

Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Sunday that fuel shortages would shut down all remaining hospitals, health facilities and oxygen generators in the enclave if more fuel did not arrive within the next 48 hours.

The latest war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has so far killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.

The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but officials say most of the dead are civilians. More than 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza and Israel says at least a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo. Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in JerusalemEditing by Gareth Jones)

Investing.com — Friday’s U.S. jobs report will be the highlight of what will be a holiday-shortened week as markets look for clarity on when exactly rate cuts could start. Comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will be closely watched, along with Wednesday’s minutes of the U.S. central bank’s latest meeting. Elections in France and the UK will also keep markets on high alert. Here’s your look at what’s happening in markets for the week ahead.

U.S. jobs data

Investors will be focusing their attention on Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report as they look for fresh indications on when the Federal Reserve might start to cut interest rates.

Economists are expecting the U.S. economy to have added 189,000 jobs in June after a larger than forecast gain of 272,000 the previous month highlighted the resilience of the labor market.

The Fed kept rates unchanged earlier this month and pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December, as officials look for more convincing signs that inflation is pulling back to the central bank’s target, or evidence that the labor market is cooling.

Ahead of the nonfarm payrolls data, a report on Tuesday is expected to show that job openings declined again in May, indicating that companies are having more success filling positions.

Powell, Lagarde comments; Fed minutes

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is to make an appearance at the European Central Bank’s annual forum in Sintra, Portugal on Tuesday.

Powell, along with ECB President Christine Lagarde is to participate in a panel discussion on “monetary policy in an era of transition” with investors on the lookout for any fresh insights on the future part of interest rates.

Inflation is receding after spiking in the first quarter but continues to run above the Fed’s 2% target.

Meanwhile, Wednesday’s minutes of the Fed’s June meeting will be parsed for the central bank’s view of the economic outlook and the factors influencing the monetary policy outlook.

Elections in France, UK

France goes to the polls on Sunday, the first round of its shock snap election that has roiled markets.

Investors will look out for any hints of the results of the second round a week later. But a 577-constituency race where candidates just need 12.5% of the vote to make it to the second round, also featuring three-way races, means uncertainty may prevail.

Meanwhile, polls predict a landslide British election win for the opposition Labour Party on Thursday, sending sterling back to levels not seen since 2016’s Brexit vote.

Traders see a return to stability after heavy political turbulence during the Conservatives’ 14-year rule and have speculated Labour leader Keir Starmer could rebuild trade links with Europe.

But it remains to be seen how large of a majority Starmer will be able to command in Parliament.

Eurozone inflation

The Eurozone is to release June inflation data on Tuesday, following Germany’s report on Monday, with economists expecting a slight slowdown in both the headline and underlying measures after an uptick in May.

The ECB is to publish the minutes of its June meeting, when it cut interest rates for the first time since September 2019, on Thursday.

Though the ECB began hiking interest rates later, the June cut put it ahead of the Fed on its march lower, as the world’s largest central bank remains stymied by above target inflation.

China PMIs

Official data on Sunday showed that manufacturing activity in China declines for a second month in June while services activity slipped to a five-month low, keeping alive calls for further stimulus as the world’s second largest economy struggles to gain momentum.

The Caixin manufacturing PMI, due Monday, is expected to tick lower.

Analysts expect China to roll out more policy support measures in the short term, while a government pledge to boost fiscal stimulus is seen helping kick domestic consumption into a higher gear.

–Reuters contributed reporting