Starbucks lays off 2,000 employees in Mideast over Gaza war boycott

The Starbucks chain announced that it has begun laying off workers at its branches in the Middle East, after the brand found itself a target for pro-Palestinian activists since the start of the war in Gaza. 

Starbucks branches throughout the area belong to the Kuwaiti Alshaya Group, a private family company that holds franchises for a variety of Western companies, including H&M and Shake Shack. 

"As a result of the continuously challenging trading conditions over the past six months, we have made the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of employees at our Starbucks stores," Alshaya said in a statement. 

The company declined to answer questions about the number of laid-off workers, but according to Reuters it is more than 2,000 out of about 19,000, most of whom are foreign workers from Asian countries.