The war Israel launched in Gaza on October 7, 2023, has become the longest and most costly conflict in the country’s history, AzerNEWS reports, citing Haaretz.
The newspaper estimates that Israel’s war expenditure has reached approximately 420 billion shekels ($142 billion), while government debt has risen to around 400 billion shekels ($135 billion).
It was noted that Israel’s ammunition reserves had originally been prepared for shorter conflicts. When Israeli forces began their ground operation in Gaza in late October 2023, the military had expected the fighting to last approximately three months.
However, the prolonged conflict has placed significant pressure on Israel’s weapons stocks. An Israeli reserve officer told Haaretz that supplies of some types of ammunition would not have been sufficient even for a short war, while actual consumption in certain categories was twice as high as initially projected.