Palestinian teen Bassel Al Helo winced in pain as he rolled over in a hospital bed on Sunday, after having been shot by Israeli soldiers during a protest on the Gaza-Israel border.
It could take years for the 16-year-old to recover from the deep leg wound sustained at Friday's demonstration, but he says he would do it again.
"I don't regret it," he said, as his mother beside him buried her head in her hands with a resigned smile.
Throughout Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, young Palestinians lay wounded, surrounded by doting relatives handing out chocolates.
Seventeen Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded when a mass protest near the border led to clashes, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, in the deadliest single day in the territory since a 2014 war with Israel.
It said a total of more than 800 Gazans had been shot by Israeli forces since Friday.
Israel's military says it only fired at those who were throwing stones and firebombs or rolling burning tyres at soldiers.
It also alleges there were efforts to damage the fortified fence cutting off the blockaded Gaza Strip and to infiltrate Israel, as well as an attempted shooting at soldiers.
Palestinians say protesters were shot while posing no danger to soldiers, while rights groups have questioned Israel's use of live fire.
Some of the injured told AFP that they were at the front throwing stones at soldiers, while others said they were struck seemingly at random.
They felt they had little to lose because of dire poverty in Gaza and that they would return to protest once they had recovered.
"I was a little way from the border. Suddenly, random and intense shooting broke out and people began to fall in front of me, including a friend," said Bassel.
"As I went to help him, I was shot."
The bullet struck his right leg, shattering and leaving shrapnel lodged under the skin. Metal rods now stick out of the leg on which he was operated.
"I went to see and show solidarity. I didn't expect to be shot," said the teenager, who was wounded east of Gaza City and insisted he was not throwing stones.
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Read more:
Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by influx of patients
Israel rejects call for independent probe into Gaza deaths
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The European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation into the violence, but Israel has rejected any such action.
The army has said it carefully targeted primary instigators and claims more than half of the 16 killed were members of radical groups.
Gaza's ruling Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, has said five of the dead were members of its armed wing.
Israel also argues that the protest's demand for the return of Palestinian refugees amounted to calling for the Jewish state to cease to exist.
Farther down the hall, 15-year-old Ali Zeer slept as blood slowly dripped through a tube connected to his body near the bullet wound in his chest.
His mother, 39, said all nine of her children took part in the main protest – attended by tens of thousands – but Ali chose to go closer to the fence than the rest.
"This was a peaceful protest. He didn't throw any stones," she said.
Another man stood over his cousin Shadi, who he said was shot about 70 metres from Israeli soldiers as he tried to move a Palestinian flag forward.
Israel has for a decade imposed a blockade on Gaza that it says aims to isolate Hamas, but which critics say amounts to collective punishment for the territory's two million residents.
Egypt has largely sealed its border with the enclave in recent years, while the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has also carried out a series of punitive measures against the strip.
The United Nations envoy recently warned that the strip was on the verge of a "total systems failure", adding that "Gaza risks exploding in our face again".
On the border on Sunday evening, a few hundred youths moved towards Israeli troops about 100 metres away, occasionally being dispersed by tear gas.
A few dozen metres back, a middle-aged couple sat drinking frozen lemonade while watching.
Asked why they came, 58-year-old Hani Al Masri cited the economy – "no jobs, no electricity".
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.”
Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Brief scoreline:
Toss: South Africa, elected to bowl first
England (311-8): Stokes 89, Morgan 57, Roy 54, Root 51; Ngidi 3-66
South Africa (207): De Kock 68, Van der Dussen 50; Archer 3-27, Stokes 2-12
