Latest Updates On Israel : Due to the effects of the protracted confrontation with Hamas in Gaza, the US ratings agency Moody’s reduced Israel’s credit rating on Friday, moving it from A1 to A2.
Moody’s said in a statement that it had taken this action after concluding that “the ongoing military conflict with Hamas, its aftermath and wider consequences materially raise the political risk for Israel as well as weaken its executive and legislative institutions and its fiscal strength, for the foreseeable future.”
Additionally, the ratings agency downgraded Israel’s debt outlook to “negative” because of “the risk of an escalation” with Hezbollah, a far more potent militant organization that operates along Israel’s northern border in Lebanon.
An AFP count based on official Israeli numbers puts the dead toll from Hamas’s historic October 7 strike in Israel at roughly 1,160, most of them civilians.
The health ministry in the territory controlled by Hamas reports that Israel retaliated by launching airstrikes and a ground attack that has killed at least 27,947 people in Gaza, the most of them women and children.
Due to concerns that the Israel-Hamas war would worsen, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Israel’s credit outlook from stable to negative after the attack.