- The Middle East is anticipating strikes on the anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks.
- Israeli offensives have targeted several Middle Eastern regions, including Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
- Hezbollah said its rockets hit a military base south of Haifa in the first direct strike on the city.
The Middle East is on high alert for military strikes timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks on Israel.
On this day last year, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel throughout 22 different border communities that killed more than 1,200 people and left 250 taken hostage.
The Israeli response to the attacks was one of the deadliest in the history of Gaza. It launched a series of air strikes and a ground invasion of Gaza that killed 41,600 Palestinians in a year, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
On Monday, memorials were held across Israel to mark the anniversary. “We’re still stuck in October 7th, 2023, in one unending day of terror, of fear, of anger, of despair,” Yuval Baron, whose father-in-law Keith Siegel is a hostage in Gaza, told Reuters.
According to the news wire, some Palestinians with entry permits to Israel were unable to enter the country on Monday.
Military spokesperson Adm. Daniel Hagari said: “We are ready with increased forces in anticipation for this day.”
In Iran, airports were temporarily closed on Sunday amid fears that Israel could strike infrastructure facilities in response to its missile attacks last week.
Meanwhile, on Monday Hezbollah said its rockets hit a military base south of Haifa in the first direct strike on Israel’s third-largest city. Israeli media said 10 people were injured.
Fifteen other rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Tiberias on Monday, according to Israeli officials.
In the early hours of the anniversary of the attacks, the IDF posted on Telegram that five projectiles were fired into Israel from Gaza.
Elsewhere, the IDF said in a statement that soldiers of its 91st Division had begun “localized and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon,” which has been rocked by bombings in the last two weeks.
Israel’s military also intensified its air strikes on Gaza and Lebanon, including Hezbollah intelligence targets and a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Beirut.
It said it killed Khader Ali Tawil, a Hezbollah commander believed to be behind an attack on the Israeli town of Kfar Yuval in January.
Georgios Petropoulos, head of the UN Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) suboffice in Gaza, told CNN that he was “woken up by renewed bombing here in Rafah, Gaza on Monday.
“The only thing that’s left in Gaza, would say is hope. Our supplies are almost zero.”
Since the Hamas incursion last year, Israel has stepped up attacks on Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. It also promised to strike Iran in response to a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.
Israel’s escalating offensive on Lebanon has left 2,000 dead, per Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The BBC estimated about a million people have been displaced following the attacks.
There are fears the conflict could escalate into a full-blown war in the Middle East. That could choke global economic growth and reignite inflation.
According to Reuters, the Bank of Israel estimated in May that the costs arising from the war would total about $66 billion through the end of next year — equivalent to roughly 12% of Israel’s GDP.
With oil prices rising, the industrial recession the US economy is experiencing could snowball into a full-fledged downturn.
“Oil prices spiking, energy prices spiking in the past, have been enough to tip the economy from a slowing into a recession,” Jake Oubina, a Piper Sandler economist, said last week in an interview with Fox Business.
In June, the IMF said that the long-term economic effects of conflict on real GDP per capita in the Middle East are particularly severe.
Countries in the Middle East may experience a roughly 10% decline in real GDP per capita a decade after the onset of conflict, compared to pre-conflict levels, it said.
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