Zionist regime’s military ‘unprepared’ for new wars without budget boost

Israel's Ynet news outlet reported on Friday that the officials had warned the treasury that they need investments in the military industry and munitions stockpiles to compensate for the heavy toll that the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has taken on the regime’s economy in the past more than two years.

The Israeli military initially planned for a war lasting about one month, with an optional two-week extension, allegedly against the Hamas resistance group in Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the report said.

However, the war has dragged on across several fronts, forcing Israel to rely on over 900 cargo aircraft and 150 supply ships—mostly from the US—to replenish basic equipment.

The report also noted that the occupation officers had censured the treasury for resisting the transfer of funds needed for force buildup and weapons production, despite lessons learned since October 2023.

In September, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) voted to allocate an additional 30.8 billion shekels ($9.2 billion) to military spending in order to cover the costs incurred from Israel’s Gaza onslaught and the 12-day aggression against Iran in June.

The supplementary budget allocation raised Israel’s overall expenditure from 756 billion shekels ($228 billion) to 787 billion shekels ($237 billion) for 2025. It also increased the budget deficit to 5.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from the current cap of 4.9 percent.

Additionally the report said the regime’s military officials had warned that the added funds already received are far from sufficient.

“We need to move to the force-building stage—acquiring high-end systems, smart bombs, air defense interceptors. The enemy’s missiles may cost $400,000, but each Arrow 3 interceptor costs $3 million and takes months to produce,” one of the officials said.

Another official said Zionist regime faces rising risks currently as Iran is “undergoing rapid recovery, the Gaza ceasefire is fragile, Lebanon sees daily attacks, Turkey is eyeing Syria, the eastern border is exposed and the West Bank is simmering.”

Meanwhile, Zionist regime’s security officials said that they are unable to publicly detail the military’s exact needs or equipment gaps, for fear of exposing vulnerabilities.

Zionist regime unleashed its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out the historic Al-Aqsa Flood operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel accepted a Gaza ceasefire deal earlier this month, following the failure to achieve its declared objectives of eliminating Hamas and freeing all captives, despite killing 68,280 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 170,375 others.

Hamas says it remains committed to the US-brokered truce despite Israel's repeated violations.

In the course of its Gaza offensive, Israel also waged acts of aggression against Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, Yemen and Syria.