Israel unable to finance underground barrier along Gaza borders

Israel has been unable to obtain the 2.7 billion shekels ($970 million) it needs to build an underground barrier along its border with the Gaza Strip, Haaretz said today.

The paper’s military analyst Amos Harel revealed that only 600 million shekels ($157 million) has been collected so far, half from the army and the remainder from the Ministry of Defence’s budget.

The army is to discuss the issue next week, Harel said, noting that the project was not included in the budget despite pervious remarks by the Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot that the project is important to crackdown on the tunnels.

“Israel has proven ability to erect barriers and fences, but what is missing at the moment is synchronisation of the plan, the objective, the timetable and the resources,” Harel wrote.

He added that the mechanism for paying the funds had not yet been arranged between the defence ministry and finance ministry. This may put the project at stake, he warned.

The Israeli army announced the 60 kilometre barrier project following the last major Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2014.