Between Israel and Lebanon, in Shlomi, Israel, March 2, 2026. LAURENCE GEAI/MYOP FOR LE MONDE
The Israeli parliament is set to vote, by the end of the week, on an increase of more than 30 billion shekels (€8.3 billion) to its defense budget, to fund the cost of ongoing military operations in Iran and Lebanon. These 30 billion shekels, approved on the evening of Monday, March 23, by the Knesset Finance Committee, come in addition to the 112 billion shekels initially planned in the draft budget presented by Benjamin Netanyahu's government at the end of December 2025. "This war costs a lot of money," the prime minister explained.
With a total of 142 billion shekels allocated to the armed forces for 2026, Israel is maintaining the exceptionally high level of spending (about 8.8% of GDP) of the previous two years. That is more than double the defense budgets before October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attack on Israel. The current war is estimated to cost around 1 billion shekels per day, according to figures reported by Israeli media.
At this pace, the increase planned in the draft budget would cover about 30 days of war. However, reserves had already been set aside, amounting to 7 billion shekels. That would cover nearly 40 days, corresponding to the four-to-five-week range of conflict initially announced by Donald Trump. But nothing prevents the government from amending the budget during the year. In September 2025, Israel approved an increase of nearly 26 billion shekels to fund the previous war with Iran in June 2025, as well as the expansion of the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza City in August of the same year.
