How much does the Israeli military campaign against the resistance in Gaza cost?

To answer this, a number of different aspects of the economy must be considered.

In his report published by the Israeli newspaper "Jerusalem Post", the writer Ziv Stab says that from the military side, thousands of Iron Dome missiles were fired at the resistance missiles, with the cost of each of the Dome missiles between 50 to 80 thousand dollars, according to various estimates.

He added that there are also significant costs to the army’s decision to summon 7,000 reserve soldiers, to be paid by the National Insurance Institute, in addition to the hundreds of air strikes carried out by the army, and these numbers are constantly rising.

Meanwhile, the cost to the private sector in Israel is about 180 million Israeli shekels a day ($ 55 million), according to an analysis conducted by the economics department of the Manufacturers' Union.

Resistance missiles disrupted a number of commercial activities in areas of Israel (Al-Jazeera)

 Damages

The author added that the Manufacturers Association estimated the cost of the manpower in the first three days of operations at about 540 million shekels ($ 165 million).

This assessment indicated the damage to business activities and industrial facilities in accordance with the directives of the Home Front Command, which indicated that between May 11 and 13 this year, no full work was carried out in the southern and central regions.

This estimate is based on the cost of the working day, assuming that about 35% of the workers in the southern region were absent from work, along with about 10% in the central region.

The association said - according to the newspaper - that this estimate does not take into account financial damages resulting from direct damage to factories or profitability, or indirect damages such as those caused to the reputation of customers abroad, cancellation of transactions, non-compliance with schedules, and other factors.

The report added that when these aspects are taken into account, the overall cost to the business sector will be much higher.

The Chairman of the Manufacturers' Association, Ron Tomer, called on the Israeli government to expedite the arrangement of salary payments to employees who were absent from work, in order to ensure the comfort of workers and employers.

Hundreds of millions

Already, thousands of homes, vehicles and private property have been damaged by the operations, and the cost of this damage is so far estimated in the hundreds of millions of shekels.

The current military campaign comes after a year in which the Coronavirus pandemic has forced governments around the world to increase spending on social care and raise record levels of debt.

Per capita GDP in Israel decreased by 4.3% in 2020, with government spending increasing by 22.5% and tax revenues falling.

While economic activity within the country has recovered quickly, and the unemployment rate has decreased faster than expected in recent months to 8% now, the economic recovery is fragile and many sectors remain highly vulnerable to shocks, according to the newspaper.

The writer explained that the sovereign credit ratings of Israel were strong, despite the costs of the Corona virus, and yet "prolonged violence may jeopardize this."

On Thursday, Fitch Ratings - one of the agencies whose ratings helps international investors evaluate financial decisions - said that "the prolonged fighting could pose threats to the Israeli rating outlook."