Israel’s parliament passes amended budget as Gaza war continues

Jerusalem: The Israeli parliament on Wednesday approved a revised state budget for 2024 to fund the country’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

According to the Finance Ministry, the updated budget stands at about 584 billion shekels (about 161 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 70 billion shekels compared to the original budget approved in May last year.

Defense spending alone will go up by 55 billion shekels.

The fiscal plan envisages a deficit of 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product.

The statement noted that the budgets of all government ministries were cut to support the balancing measures.

The new budget also includes several measures to increase state revenues, such as taxing bank profits and reducing convalescence payments for employees, as agreed with the largest Israeli worker union Histadrut.