Twenty-six days have passed since the tragic events of Oct. 7, when the Hamas militant group executed a series of fatal attacks in Israel.

These actions resulted in the loss of Israeli civilian lives and the abduction of an estimated 240 hostages who remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip. In response, the Israeli Defense Force has responded with airstrikes targeting Hamas in the Palestinian enclave, along with a ground invasion that commenced Oct. 27.

Here are the most recent updates Wednesday in this ongoing conflict:

• According to NBC, evacuations of people trapped in Gaza have started through the Rafah border. Injured civilians began arriving in Egypt.
• The IDF reportedly killed a senior Hamas commander with an airstrike on the Jabaliya camp near Gaza City.
• Al-Jazeera television aired footage of the devastation. The exact toll is not yet known.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday warned, “We are in a difficult war. This will be a long war.”
• In the U.S., protesters interrupted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's testimony before Congress on Tuesday. See below:

Market Reactions

Meanwhile, Iran renewed a call for an oil embargo of Israel by Muslim countries, per Bloomberg. U.S. crude futures rose toward $83 a barrel.

Stocks to watch include:

• Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp & Prod Bull 2X Shares GUSH
• Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp & Prod Bear 2X Shares DRIP
• Marathon Oil Corporation Corp MRO
• Exxon Mobil Corp XOM
• Chevron Corporation CVX
• Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY

According to the Times of Israel, the local currency (shekel) gained as much as 1% against the U.S. dollar earlier on Tuesday and was trading around NIS 4.02 in the afternoon in Tel Aviv. The shekel weakened to NIS 4.081 against the greenback on Oct. 27, its lowest level in 11 years.

The Tel Aviv-Banks5 Index has fallen by 14% since the start of the war.

The iShares MSCI Israel ETF (NYSE: EIS) had its most successful session of 2023 Tuesday as investors reassessed the effects of the ongoing conflict.

Word From The Pentagon: The Pentagon's top special operations policy official and assistant secretary of defense, Christopher P. Maier, told a special operations conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday that U.S. commandos are "actively helping the Israelis to do a number of things."

The main task was to help Israel “identify hostages, including American hostages. It’s really our responsibility to do so," he added.

Defense stocks to watch include:

• Lockheed Martin Corp LMT
• L3Harris Technologies Inc LHX
• General Dynamics Corp GD
• Northrop Grumman Corp NOC
• RTX Corp RTX

Lockheed was down 0.2% at $453.75 Wednesday morning, L3Harris was down 0.45% at $178.60, General Dynamics was up 0.24% at $241.88, Northrop Grumman was down 0.05% at $471.19 and RTX was up 0.37% at $81.69.

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Photo: Shutterstock.