US is pressing Israel to delay Gaza invasion – report

Bloomberg reports that the US and Europe are pressing Israel to delay an invasion of Gaza because they hope to win hostage releases and proceed with negotiations.

This news has led to selling in oil and a boost in risk assets.

Here is the report.

“US and European governments have been putting pressure on Israel to
delay its ground invasion of Gaza to buy time for secret talks underway
via Qatar to win the release of hostages held by Hamas, according to
people familiar with the efforts,” it says.

There are reports of more than 200 hostages in Gaza and the report says there are ‘more than 20 hostages’ who are teenagers or young children.

This is also a telling portion of the report and highlights a key concern of markets:

US
and other officials fear that a brutal assault could further inflame
tensions in the region, with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and elsewhere
joining in what would become a much larger war that could force the US
to intervene militarily to back Israel.

Meanwhile, the report highlights that this would only be a delay and that Netanyahu still plans to eradicate Hamas, which makes for a tough negotiation if you’re Hamas.