Oil prices have risen following Israeli attacks in the Gaza strip which killed Ahmed al-Jabari, the leader of Hamas’s militant wing. Traders fear that the whole Middle East is reaching its limit and that something is about to blow which could seriously impact on the global oil market.

After more than 115 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza this week, Israel decided to retaliate. Claiming that they were ready to send ground troops into Gaza to end hostilities, Israel started with a series of airstrikes, which managed to kill the Hamas leader.

Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said that, “this is a clear statement that we won’t continue to tolerate this violence against us.”

John Kilduff, a partner at the New York energy hedge fund, Again Capital LLC, commented to Bloomberg that “the Israeli strike on Gaza has raised the security premium. The Israelis made it clear that this may be the first of many strikes. This episode raises tension in an already troubled region.”

Just recently Israel has also been involved in an incident with Syria, as firing tank shells across the border into Syria in retaliation to a series of mortar strikes earlier in the week.

Bill O’Grady, the chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management, explained that “the Israelis and Hamas are lobbing missiles at each other, which isn’t unusual. The fact that Israel is also exchanging fire with Syria is increasing worry that everything is going to hit the fan.”

This post was originally published at Oil Price.com and is reproduced here with permission.