Economists warn of global rise in oil prices due to Israel's ongoing war with Hamas

Economic market experts are expecting that global oil prices will rise as a result of the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization in Gaza.

Ben Cahill, a senior fellow with the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), believes a large Israeli ground operation in Gaza would affect the global markets.

“It looks like we’re headed for a massive ground invasion of Gaza and a large-scale loss of life,” Cahill said. “Anytime you have a conflict of this scale, you will have a market reaction,” he added.

Neither Israel nor the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are oil exporters. However, market experts fear the conflict could potentially escalate and spread across the politically volatile Middle East, eventually affecting global oil supplies.

“The bigger risk to the oil market is that this conflict draws in neighboring countries,” Cahill warned.

Regional players like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq are significant oil exporters to the global market.

The Iranian ayatollah regime, which calls for Israel’s destruction and backs the Hamas terror group and other proxies, has threatened Israel with “consequences” if the Jewish state does not stop its defensive military operation against Hamas.

“If the Israeli apartheid’s war crimes & genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences—the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end,” the Iranian permanent UN mission warned on X, formerly Twitter.

Regional and international pundits are particularly concerned that Iran will order Hezbollah, its most powerful terror proxy, to launch a second attack on the Jewish state from the north.

U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Iran against any military escalation toward the Jewish state.

“We made it clear to the Iranians: Be careful,” Biden said.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has rallied behind the Jewish state and its right to self-defense against the unprecedented Hamas aggression that has claimed the lives of more than 1,300 men, women, and children.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Biden’s words during a recent solidarity visit to Israel.

“The message that I bring to Israel is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side. That’s the message that President Biden delivered to the prime minister from the moment that this crisis began,” Blinken stated.

However, Washington’s support of Israel is not limited to mere declarations.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on Saturday that Washington would send a second aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean. The USS Eisenhower will join the already deployed USS Ford aircraft carrier.

Austin emphasized Washington’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war.”

His statement was a veiled warning to the Tehran regime and its terror proxy, Hezbollah.

Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel’s largest banks, recently assessed that its ongoing war with Gaza could cost Israel at least NIS 27 billion, or close to $7 billion.