Over the weekend, militants with Hamas, which governs Gaza and has been designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, attacked Israel, killing hundreds and also taking hostages.
As of Monday, at least 900 Israelis, most of them civilians, had been killed. More than 560 Palestinians have been killed in retaliation from Israel, ABC News reported, citing Palestinian authorities.
The violence sent oil prices upward. The price of international oil benchmark Brent Crude closed at under $85 per barrel on Friday. On Monday, prices were up to about $88 per barrel.
“Any time you have a conflict in the Middle East that tends to create a geopolitical risk premium,” said Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It’s not a huge bounce, but it’s notable because there was a big sell-off in the oil price late last week,” Cahill said.
Read more in a report from TheHill.com.
