War with Hamas will cost Israel over US$50 billion

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The conflict with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip will cost Israel about US$51 billion.

Source: Israeli newspaper Calcalist, citing preliminary data from the Israeli Finance Ministry

Details: The report noted that this estimate follows the assumption that the war will last from 8 to 12 months and will be limited to Gaza, without the full participation of Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran or Yemen, and that about 350,000 Israelis drafted into the military reserves will soon resume their employment.

The ministry considers the estimate of Israeli shekels (ILS) 200 billion (US$51 billion), or about 10% of Israel's GDP, to be optimistic.

Half the costs are reportedly attributed to defence, amounting to about ILS 1 billion (roughly US$252.2 million) daily. Another ILS 40-60 billion (US$10.09-15.13 billion) will be accounted for by loss of income, ILS 17-20 billion (US$4.28-5.04 billion) by compensation to businesses, and ILS 10-20 billion (roughly US$2.52-5.04 billion) by rehabilitation.

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