As the biggest clashes in Israel in recent years unfolded, this led to a sharp sell-off on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which is open for trading on Sundays.
Israel's declaration of a 'state of war' in response to Hamas's armed attacks and the unknown duration of this 'state of war' have raised concerns about the economy.
As a reflection of this, the benchmark TA-125 index on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange fell 6.7 percent today. The TA-35 index, which includes larger companies, also fell 6.5 percent, while the decline in the banking index reached 8.7 percent.
'QUICK RECOVERY SEEMS DIFFICULT'
Commenting on the fall to The Times of Israel, Ori Greenfeld, Chief Strategist at Psagot Investment House, said that the impact of this weekend's clashes on financial markets could be more severe than in previous years.
"In previous operations, the Israeli economy has not suffered major damage, but today that would be too optimistic a scenario. In previous incidents, the markets recovered in 1 or at most 2 days, but this time it seems difficult for the local market to recover quickly."
