The Israeli shekel continues to fall, affected by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, as it reached the lowest level, 4.01 per 1 USD.
This fall is the lowest level since December 2015, with escalating fears of a ground attack on the Gaza Strip.
The Bank of Israel set the price of the shekel against the dollar, Sunday, at approximately 3,969 shekels/dollar, and the price of the shekel against the euro was set at 4,187 shekels/Euro.
The political and security pressures facing Israel, due to the war with the Gaza Strip and the escalation of tension on the northern border with Lebanon, overshadowed the efforts of the Bank of Israel to maintain a stable exchange rate.
Last Monday, the Bank of Israel announced a program to protect the shekel from fluctuations resulting from the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip, by selling up to $30 billion in foreign currencies in local markets.
In addition to the $30 billion program, and as necessary, the bank will provide liquidity to the market through market swap mechanisms amounting to up to $15 billion, according to a statement issued by it.
Since October 7, the Israeli army has continued to launch raids on Gaza, which led to the death of 2,670 Palestinians and the injury of 9,600 others, according to the Ministry of Health.
While the operation launched by Hamas, al Aqsa Flood, resulted in the killing of more than 1,300 Israelis, the wounding of 3,715, and the capture of more than a hundred others, according to official Israeli sources.
The attacks launched by the Palestinian resistance hit Israeli food security deeply, after targeting towns and settlements that represent the food basket of Israel, in addition to causing the state of panic that is controlling Israeli society and the army summoning hundreds of thousands of workers to join the war in paralyzing supply chains, which deepens Economy losses.
Fields, livestock barns, and dairy assembly factories in settlements and towns near the Gaza Strip have become deserted, with crops exposed to damage and rot, and livestock dying in large numbers, according to officials in agricultural unions and associations of livestock breeders and dairy producers.
The Ministry of Agriculture is also concerned that many workers throughout the supply chain have either been called up for military service or have not shown up for work, which negatively affects the transportation of various food products to major supermarket chains, according to a report by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
According to a report issued by the International Center for Development Studies in London, the losses of the Israeli economy exceed $8 dollars, given the size of the broad economic sectors that were affected by the current events, especially the port sector, whose activity clearly declined, with the closure of the port of Ashkelon and the tightening of procedures on entering ships to Ashdod port.
This has raised the costs of insurance for ships, some of which chose to change the course of their sea voyages away from danger areas.
If the battles continue further, local markets in Israel may witness an increase in prices and a greater decline in the value of the shekel, according to the report, which pointed out that the intervention of the Central Bank of Israel prevented the collapse of the shekel to levels that would have led to the loss and bankruptcy of many companies, especially after the waves of sales.
The significant decline witnessed by the Israeli Stock Exchange and the decline in the performance of many banks.
The population of Gaza, about 2.2 million Palestinians, suffer from extremely deteriorating living conditions as a result of an ongoing Israeli siege since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.
