The Hebrew Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said “The renewal of the war in Gaza over a month ago, after the ceasefire, and the plan to expand it …. is incurring significant costs”, adding that the Israeli occupation army is already discussing the need for a substantial budget increase of approximately $2.6 billion.

   According to the report, the security establishment in Israel has in recent days calculated the additional costs of extending and expanding the war, which could involve conquering about 40% of the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks in order to enhance the security of illegal settlements near Gaza and prevent the resumption of rocket fire on Israel.

   The newspaper noted that senior government officials, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, have recently addressed the additional budget needs and were surprised by the amount requested by the army.

   The newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Finance Ministry official as saying, “It is unreasonable to allocate another 10 billion shekels to the bloated defence budget”, which according to the paper could lead to increasing taxes on citizens to cover these costs.

   A senior official told the paper that “It is inconceivable that, beyond the nearly $31 billion already allocated—including the use of a $2.6 billion reserve fund—another $2.6 billion could be added to an already inflated defence budget”.

   Earlier this year, the Israeli economic newspaper Calcalist reported that the Bank of Israel has estimated the cost of the war on the Gaza Strip to have reached approximately 250 billion shekels ($67.57 billion) through the end of 2024, including direct security costs, large civilian expenditures, and lost revenues

   Israel genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, has killed and wounded more than 168,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.