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Since its genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israel has expended vast amounts of money and manpower on levelling the Palestinian territory and destroying its institutions.<\/p>\n
It has killed more than 72,000 people in achieving this end, including tens of thousands of children and women \u2014 with some independent researchers suggesting that the death toll is higher than 75,000.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Of those who are still alive, many have suffered the effects of deliberately imposed starvation: first during Israel\u2019s siege of northern Gaza in late 2024, which United Nations officials described as \u201capocalyptic\u201d, and later during the man-made famine Israeli policies created in August 2025, when images of malnourished and starving children became commonplace on news bulletins around the world.<\/p>\n None of this has come cheaply. Israel \u2013 backed by its principal ally, the United States \u2013 has poured billions of dollars into waging its war on Gaza. So, how much does the killing of more than 72,000 Palestinians cost? How much do you need to spend on munitions to commit a genocide? And what is the impact of industrialised mass killing on an economy?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know.<\/p>\n The Bank of Israel put the overall economic toll of the war at about 352\u202fbillion shekels ($112bn). That total includes roughly 243\u202fbillion shekels ($77bn) in direct defence costs, 33\u202fbillion shekels ($10.5bn) for the property tax compensation fund, civilian outlays of 57\u202fbillion shekels ($18bn) and interest payments of 19\u202fbillion shekels ($6bn).<\/p>\n In early 2025, taking the Gaza war in isolation, Israel\u2019s former chief military economic adviser, Gil Pinchas, estimated that the cost to Israel had been 150 billion shekels ($48bn), running at an average cost of 300 million shekels ($96m) per day. On average, 100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza every day, according to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).<\/p>\n \u201cEvery item the [Israeli army] uses in combat has a price tag in shekels, detailed in a special, highly specific price book,\u201d Pinchas told journalists, referring to the price paid by the Israeli army, and not Palestinians, for every combat ration, litre of fuel, vehicle, bullet and missile launched against Gaza. \u201cThe book is updated constantly, including during the war \u2026 We keep our finger on the pulse.\u201d<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know for sure.<\/p>\n Pinchas did say that Israel had spent 340 billion shekels ($108bn) on munitions since the war began, but nowhere near all of that has been used. A significant proportion of that money has also been spent on purchasing arms from Israeli manufacturers, which has helped to offset the wider impact of the war on the Israeli economy.<\/p>\n Line-by-line details for most military budgets are rarely available. But some insights can be gleaned from Israel\u2019s other wars in the region.<\/p>\n According to an estimate midway through the war by The Wall Street Journal, Israel\u2019s war on Iran was costing it $200m per day, with the missiles used to intercept Iranian rockets, sometimes reaching 400 a day, estimated at anywhere between $700,000 and $4m each.<\/p>\n In addition, Israel\u2019s September 2024 attack on the Lebanese group Hezbollah\u2019s communication devices, which relied on a plan that had been set into motion years earlier, is reported to have set the Israeli treasury back some one billion shekels ($318m).<\/p>\n Considerable, and much of that is down to manpower.<\/p>\n Of Israel\u2019s 465,000 military reservists, upwards of 300,000 were deployed to Gaza during the first year of the war. This is in addition to 170,000 active-duty personnel. The cost of maintaining that number of active soldiers, as well as the impact on the wider economy due to the loss of workers called up as reservists, is astronomical.<\/p>\n According to Israel\u2019s treasury, some 70 billion shekels ($22.3bn) has been spent on its reserve forces alone during the course of the war, while the cost of maintaining its standing army in 2025 was estimated to be 15.37 billion shekels ($4.9bn).<\/p>\n The Bank of Israel estimates that the cost of one month of service for a military reservist is about 38,000 shekels ($12,100) in lost production.<\/p>\n With military budgets unlikely to recede in the wake of the genocide and other wars that Israel has engaged in over the past two years, a column in the Israeli liberal daily Haaretz suggested that over the next decade, the cost of the war could run to, at a minimum, 500 billion shekels ($159bn).<\/p>\n More than many US voters might suppose.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
How much money has Israel spent on the Gaza war?<\/h2>\n
How much of the war\u2019s expenditure was spent on munitions?<\/h2>\n
What has been the overall cost to the wider Israeli economy?<\/h2>\n
How much has Israel\u2019s genocide cost the US?<\/h2>\n