Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that as of mid-January, the war had cost 150 billion shekels ($42 billion), citing Gil Pinchas, Economic Advisor to the Israeli army’s Chief of Staff and head of the Budget Department at the Ministry of Defense.
The newspaper said that the average daily cost of the war on Gaza was approximately 300 million shekels ($83.8 million).
It also noted that “a single night of defending Israel’s skies with the help of the international coalition against the Iranian missile attack cost us 1 billion shekels ($279 million).”
On Oct. 1, last year, Tehran launched around 180 ballistic missiles on Israel in retaliation for the recent assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders and an Iranian commander.
Yedioth Ahronoth added that “the heaviest expenditure item in the defense budget is the funding of the reserve army, which reached 45 billion shekels ($12.5 billion).”
On Jan. 19, a ceasefire agrrement between Hamas and Israel went into effect, initially lasting 42 days, during which negotiations will continue for subsequent phases of the deal. The accordis mediated by Egypt and Qatar, with support from the US.
Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 111,000 since Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
