The government is expected to approve on Sunday another across-the-board cut in the budgets of all the ministries, to finance aid to the residents of the Gaza envelope and the north. The cut will be 1.03%. With the 2024 budget at NIS 513.7 billion ($138.52 billion). The cut will be about NIS 5.291 billion ($1.427 billion)
This is an extension of the aid from the state to the residents of the southern settlements within a range of up to 7 km from the Gaza Strip border and to the residents of the northern settlements within a range of up to 5 km from the Lebanese border.
The extension of the decision to evacuate the residents of the north, which expires on Sunday, was delayed due to the lack of a budgetary resource. Finance is seeking to bring to the cabinet’s approval a decision on horizontal cuts, but officials in the Prime Minister’s circle oppose the move, fearing that it would provoke public criticism and be difficult to pass politically.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman warned last week that Israel is not properly prepared to evacuate the population in the event of a war in the north. This, according to him, is due to disputes between the ministries of defense and the interior. The comptroller wrote Netanyahu, informing him that “there cannot be a state of no consensus that lasts for such a long time. Unified and orderly government action is required.”
The government plans to extend the financing of the evacuation of the residents of the north until the end of August, to leave open the possibility of starting the new school year in the north on September 1.
