Israeli PM Netanyahu heckled by hostage families during parliament address

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 Temkin 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 up total 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, up from a target of 2.25%.

With the deficit expected to widen by 75 billion shekels to 114 billion shekels next year, Temkin said the gap would require cutting other expenses or raising revenue.

He also it was not currently possible to plan for the possibility that the war against Gaza’s Palestinian Hamas would stretch into March or beyond.

“It is possible that later in the year we will have to come and update it and we will have to come with updates as the war drags on,” he said.