Israel admits Gaza rockets inflicted $368mn in economic loss to its businesses

The Gaza Strip revises up its tally of the casualties that have been left from the Israeli regime’s recent 12-day war on the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory.

Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association has released a report admitting to the huge economic damage sustained by the regime as a result of the barrage of missiles coming from the besieged Gaza Strip during the Palestinian resistance’s Operation al-Quds Sword against the Zionist entity.

The Monday report says Israeli businesses lost 1.2 billion shekels ($368 million) during 11 days of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian resistance groups based in Gaza.

The association, which represents some 1,500 firms and 400,000 workers, said the loss was mostly due to employees choosing to stay at home due to the nearly nonstop rocket fire from Gaza.

The main industrial group pointed out that about a third of workers were absent from work in southern Israeli Occupied Lands and about 10% stayed home in areas closer to the commercial hub of central Israel during the war.

Fifty Israeli factories suffered millions of shekels in direct damage from rocket shrapnel, though the manufacturers association did not include in its estimate indirect damage, like canceled orders.

In the 2014 war that lasted seven weeks, Israeli regime’s central bank estimated the Tel Aviv’s economy took a 3.5 billion shekel hit, plus nearly the same amount in damages to the tourism sector.

Israel sustained a heavy defeat in its latest confrontation with resistance groups in the Gaza Strip. The regime declared a ceasefire early on Friday after 12 days of heavy bombardment of Gaza, to which the resistance responded with firing thousands of rockets into the occupied territories.

At least 248 Palestinians were martyred in Gaza, including 66 children, while Palestinian rockets killed 12 in Israel.