DUBAI: Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza risks spilling over into the wider Arab region as militias sympathetic to the Palestinian group mount their own attacks on Israeli and American targets. One country that is especially vulnerable to this potential escalation is Lebanon.

Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that emerged from the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90 and continues to control a formidable arsenal of weapons and share of the national economy, is under tremendous pressure to declare war if Israel mounts a ground invasion of Gaza.

JERUSALEM: A depleted workforce. Constant rocket sirens. The lingering shock of an unexpected attack. The cost to Israel’s economy of its war with Hamas militants will be unlike anything it has experienced in decades.

The cranes that dot Tel Aviv’s ever-growing skyline stood still for days after the city closed construction sites. They reopened this week under stricter safety guidelines but inactivity in this sector alone costs the economy an estimated 150 million shekels ($37 million) a day, an industry report said.

GAZA: The Israeli military struck Gaza’s crowded Al-Shati camp on Monday, flattening homes and killing at least 40 people, according to a report that reached Arab News from the targeted site.

Footage acquired by Arab News shows Palestinian rescue teams retrieving the pajama-clad bodies of two young girls, identified as Yomna and Aya, from the rubble of their family home in the aftermath of the attack.

The footage also shows bedding and a school backpack belonging to one of the victims.

LONDON: Kuwait’s Namaa Charity and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees signed an agreement on Tuesday to provide multi-purpose cash assistance to 338 families displaced in Sudan, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Khaled Al-Mathkoor, chairman of the Social Reform Society which oversees Namaa Charity, said that humanitarian relief and cooperation were deep values in Islamic religion and that the agreement aimed to alleviate the suffering of Sudanese civilians in the face of violence.

BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati inspected the border area between Lebanon and Israel in an unannounced visit to the south on Tuesday, where he stressed “Lebanon’s respect for all international legitimacy resolutions and its commitment to implementing Resolution 1701.”

Tensions have flared between the two countries in recent weeks as a result of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip following an attack by Hamas that left over 1,400 Israelis dead on Oct. 7.