10 mei 2024 om 09:00 Update: 1 uur geleden
The now seven-month war in Gaza has already cost Israel around 14.8 billion euros. The enormous bill hits the country hard.
Data from Israel’s Finance Ministry published on Thursday showed that government spending increased by almost 36 percent in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier. More than two-thirds of that expenditure went to defense. The country’s revenues fell by 2.2 percent.
The costs of the war are rising rapidly, pushing Israel toward one of the largest budget deficits of this century. The country’s central bank previously estimated that the total costs of the conflict in the period up to and including 2025 will amount to around 51.6 billion euros.
Still, Israel’s budget won’t dry up anytime soon. The government now covers most of the costs by borrowing more money from other countries. Although Israel’s main ally, the US, has said it will stop supplying weapons to the country if plans for an invasion of Rafah go ahead, the Americans will still provide financial support so Israel can defend itself.
“The US will therefore still supply defensive munitions for, for example, the Iron Dome, Israel’s missile shield,” Biden said on Thursday.
