Israeli airstrike hits refugee camp
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Your money might be invested in Gaza weapons, investment platform says
Smoke billows from Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in May, 2024. Photo: AFP The amount of KiwiSaver money invested in weapons companies has increased 40.9 percent this year, a responsible investment platform says. Mindful Money founder Barry Coates said many New Zealanders might be unpleasantly surprised that their money was being invested in companies producing weapons that could be used in conflicts such as that in Gaza or the Ukraine. Mindful Money calculated that KiwiSaver investments in weapons companies are now worth $392.4 million. It said New Zealand investment in the production of weapons used in Gaza, through KiwiSaver and retail investment funds, totalled $71.9 m. Coates said the increase reflected a broader increase in activity in the defence industry around the world. "I think most of the increase is the chase for short-term profits - wars are good for business if you're a weapons company. "There's been an increase in investment in many of these companies that stand to benefit from sales to Gaza or via the US or into the Ukraine conflict." Koura founder Rupert Carlyon said the increase was probably because of weapons' companies strong performance. "They are strong performers with global conflicts and increased defence spending in Europe." He said while the dollar value of the investments was now much larger, funds' allocations might not have moved. "The increased size is a function of larger market capitalisations and larger KiwiSaver balances." The S&P Aerospace and Defense Select Industry index had increased 16.5 percent in the past year and 307 percent in the past decade. Coates said research had shown 80 percent of New Zealanders wanted to avoid investing in weapons companies but it continued. He said there had been a fall in investments in companies linked to social harm such as gambling or alcohol and tobacco. "But not enough and not so much in weapons particularly … it does look to us as though we're seeing the same thing happening in fossil fuels - that something happens in the world and investment funds see greater opportunity and they're increasing their investments … even though many of their clients may may be deeply worried about that." He said KiwiSaver investment in companies producing and selling firearms had also more than doubled. "There's a big increase in hand guns investments … maybe something to do with the Trump administration." The most dramatic individual company increase involved Walmart, where New Zealand KiwiSaver investment reached $115.8 million - representing a 144 percent increase over the year and 40 percent growth in just six months. Although it is best known as a general retailer, Mindful Money called it out because Walmart sells shotguns, rifles, ammunition, and firearm components. Coates said there were 36 weapons-free funds at 13 different providers. He said many people would get a "huge surprise" if they found their KiwiSaver investment was exposed to the Gaza conflict. "I think it's kind of one of the things that people can abstract a bit about weapons and so on but when they've seen the effects on people in Gaza and the complete levelling of the country, then you know, suddenly I think it comes home to them, that they don't want their funds to be invested in that." Earlier in the year, activists put pressure on ASB to divest its KiwiSaver investments from Motorola, which they said was supplying the Israeli military with smart phones and radios. But Carlyon said there should be a conversation about whether it was appropriate for weapons to remain in exclusion categories, "given the volatile world we are living in and the need for most countries to be increasing defence spending". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Israel pounds Gaza City, 123 dead in last 24 hours
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose , Reuters Palestinians inspect the damage after an overnight strike on the Sheikh Radwan Health Centre run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the north of Gaza City on 6 August, 2025. Photo: AFP Israel's military pounded Gaza City on Wednesday prior to a planned takeover, with another 123 people killed in the last day according to the Gaza health ministry, while militant group Hamas held further talks with Egyptian mediators. The 24-hour death toll was the worst in a week and added to the massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war that has shattered the enclave housing more than two million Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated an idea - also enthusiastically floated by US President Donald Trump - that Palestinians should simply leave. "They're not being pushed out, they'll be allowed to exit," he told Israeli television channel i24NEWS. "All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their gates and stop lecturing us." Arabs and many world leaders are aghast at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another "Nakba" (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during a 1948 war. Israel's planned re-seizure of Gaza City - which it took in the early days of the war before withdrawing - is probably weeks away, officials say. That means a ceasefire is still possible though talks have been floundering and conflict still rages. Israeli planes and tanks bombed eastern areas of Gaza City heavily, residents said, with many homes destroyed in the Zeitoun and Shejaia neighbourhoods overnight. Al-Ahli hospital said 12 people were killed in an airstrike on a home in Zeitoun. Tanks also destroyed several houses in the east of Khan Younis in south Gaza too, while in the centre Israeli gunfire killed nine aid-seekers in two separate incidents, Palestinian medics said. Israel's military did not comment. Eight more people, including three children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said. That took the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began. Israel disputes those malnutrition and hunger figures reported by the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya's meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Wednesday were to focus on stopping the war, delivering aid and "ending the suffering of our people in Gaza," Hamas official Taher al-Nono said in a statement. Egyptian security sources said the talks would also discuss the possibility of a comprehensive ceasefire that would see Hamas relinquish governance in Gaza and concede its weapons. A Hamas official told Reuters the group was open to all ideas if Israel ends the war and pulls out. However, "Laying down arms before the occupation is dismissed is impossible," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. Netanyahu's plan to expand military control over Gaza, which Israeli sources said could be launched in October, has heightened global outcry over the widespread devastation, displacement and hunger in the enclave. About half of Gaza's residents live in the Gaza City area. Foreign ministers of 24 countries, including Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Japan, said this week the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached "unimaginable levels" and urged Israel to allow unrestricted aid. Israel denies responsibility for hunger, accusing Hamas of stealing aid. It says it has taken steps to increase deliveries, including daily combat pauses in some areas and protected routes for aid convoys. The Israeli military on Wednesday said that nearly 320 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and that a further nearly 320 trucks were collected and distributed by the U.N. and international organizations in the past 24 hours along with three tankers of fuel and 97 pallets of air-dropped aid. The United Nations and Palestinians say aid entering Gaza remains far from sufficient. The war began on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza since then has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. - Reuters
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
Israel PM has 'lost the plot', says Christopher Luxon
NZ PM Christopher Luxon says the attack on Gaza City is 'utterly, utterly unacceptable'. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Luxon's comments come on a tense day in Parliament, where Green's co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was 'named' for refusing to leave the House following a heated debate on the government's plan to consider recognising Palestinian statehood. Speaking to media, Luxon said Netanyahu had "gone too far". "I think he has lost the plot and I think that what we're seeing overnight - the attack on Gaza City - is utterly, utterly unacceptable" he said. Luxon said Israel had consistently ignored pleas from the international community for humanitarian aid to be delivered "unfettered" and the situation was driving more human catastrophe across Gaza. "We are a small country a long way away, with very limited trade with Israel. We have very little connection with the country, but we have stood up for values, and we keep articulating them very consistently, and what you have seen is Israel not listening to the global community at all. "We have said a forcible displacement of people and an annexation of Gaza would be a breach of international law. We have called these things out consistently time and time again. "You've seen New Zealand join many of our friends and partners around the world to make these statements, and he's just not listening," the prime minister said. The government is considering whether it will join other countries like France, Canada and Australia in recognising Palestinian statehood at a UN Leader's Meeting next month. Luxon said recent attacks could "extinguish a pathway" to a two-state solution. "I'm telling you what my personal view is, as a human being, looking at the situation, that's how I feel about." he said. Labour Leader Chris Hipkins has called the war an "unfolding genocide", echoing the comments made by former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Palestinian territory this week . "She's used the words 'unfolding genocide', and yes, I do agree with that. That's a good description of the situation at the moment." Hipkins said calling it an "unfolding genocide" meant that we were not "appointing ourselves judge and jury" because there was still a case to be heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). "Recognising that there is an unfolding genocide in Gaza is an important part of the world community standing up and saying, we're not going to tolerate it. "We should recognize that there is now a growing acknowledgement around the world that there is an unfolding genocide in Gaza, and I think we should call that for what it is, and the world community needs to react to that to prevent it from happening," Hipkins said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
