The war in Gaza has already cost Israel $67 billion and is expected to rise further, putting the country on the path to economic collapse, an Israeli bank chief told Israeli media.

Rakefet Russak Aminach, former chairman of Bank Leumi, stressed the potential economic damage the war in Gaza could cause to Israel, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that the offensive against Hamas will continue.

The comments come against the backdrop of an extension of ceasefire talks in Doha for another day, with Hamas acting out of anger over Israel’s additional demands for a ceasefire.

“So far, the war has already cost the Israeli economy more than NIS 250 billion, and the defense establishment wants an annual increase of no less than NIS 20 billion,” she said in an interview with the Israeli Channel 12.

“The deficit is much larger. We have people who have been evacuated and wounded, and many economic needs that are not even factored into the cost of the war.”

Other financial experts also commented on this issue and expressed their concerns about the finances of the State of Israel.

“The most important and urgent task is to deal with the deficit. The year 2023 began without a deficit, and since then the situation has worsened. At the end of July last year, the deficit was 8.1 percent. It must be balanced,” said Yaakov Frenkel, the former governor of the Bank of Israel.

Gil Shwed, co-founder of cybersecurity software company Check Point, said Israel may struggle to rebuild its economy amid the ongoing war with foreign investors staying away.

“In the high-tech sector, we are seeing signs of a decline in foreign investment. Naturally, foreign investors are afraid to invest in a country that is not in a stable state,” he said.

According to Frenkel, “the Israeli government has lost credibility with investors,” which he believes is one of the reasons for the decline in foreign investment.

A former Israeli general, Yitzhak Brick, told the Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv that spending on the war “will lead to the destruction of the Israeli economy.”

“Every day we hear of another company that has decided to downgrade Israel’s credit rating, leading to an increase in the cost of borrowing that Israel takes out to finance the enormous cost of the war,” he said.

Last month, Maariv reported that around 46,000 businesses have closed in Israel since October and warned that the Israeli economy is in “collapse”.

The report added that there has been “almost no foreign tourism” since the Gaza war began ten months ago and that “almost no sector has been spared”.

The sectors most affected by the war include furniture, fashion, household goods, entertainment and transportation.

The CEO of CofaceBdi, an Israeli credit risk management firm, told the newspaper that the conflict affects numerous sectors.

“(About) 77 percent of the companies that have closed since the beginning of the war – that is about 35,000 companies – are small companies with up to five employees and are therefore the most vulnerable companies in the economy,” said Yoel Amir.

In the Israeli war against Gaza, over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 92,000 others injured. Most of the dead are women and children. Civil defense teams estimate that around 10,000 people are still trapped under the rubble.