JERUSALEM: Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza will likely cost it at least another 50 billion shekels ($14 billion) in 2024 and result in a near-tripling of its budget deficit, the finance ministry said on Monday, projecting that fighting will last through February.
Briefing lawmakers, the ministry’s deputy budget commissioner Itai Temk in said the war was expected to stretch at least two months into 2024, adding 30 billion shekels for security and another 20 billion for civilian and other expenses.
That, he told the Knesset Finance Committee, would drive uptotal defence spending by more than 48 billion shekels beyond what had initially been allocated.
Total budgetary spending in 2024 would rise to 562.1 billion shekels from a planned 513.7 billion and lead to a budget deficit of 5.9% of gross domestic product or GDP up from a target of2.25%.
