Tension escalated in the Middle East after hundreds were killed in a blast at a Gaza hospital, sparking concerns about potential oil supply disruptions from the region and oil shipments elsewhere.

According to Bloomberg, some high rank ECB members are increasingly voicing concerns of raising oil prices because of the raging Middle East conflict involving more and more countries. Governing Council member Robert Holzmann said the Israel-Hamas war risks stoking oil prices and in turn driving inflation and weighing on growth. “What has changed since our last board is the perception of risk: following the latest developments in the Middle East, the risk of higher oil prices and consequently higher inflation and lower growth has clearly increased,” Holzmann, who serves as head’s Austria’s central bank.

Fellow ECB official Gabriel Makhlouf also complained, that “the outlook is highly uncertain as it is constantly changing as a result of conflict, geopolitical fragmentation and extreme weather related to climate change”. “This context is unlikely to change anytime soon and as policymakers, the only thing we can be sure of is… uncertainty itself” (Makhlouf is the chief of the Irish central bank).

Also, Pierre Wunsch of Belgium said that “…the movements in international oil markets seen so far have mean rather limited revisions”.

Jordan has reportedly canceled a summit it was expected to host with U.S. President Joe Biden and Egyptian and Palestinian leaders. The cancellation of a summit between Biden and Arab leaders apparently negatively impacted the likelihood of a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict anytime soon.

Meanwhile, oil prices surged on Wednesday, October 18. Brent crude futures, in their turn, advanced $1.75, or 2%, to $91.42 a barrel in the early European hours. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.95, or 2.15%, at $88.33 a barrel so far.