JERUSALEM: Israel will allocate a special budget of tens of billions of shekels for extra defence spending to finance the air war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Smotrich said the cabinet was meeting on Tuesday night to approve the special war budget. "This is not an expense, it's an investment," he said.

Netanyahu said that data show Israel's economy was very strong despite more than two years of wars.