How much did it cost Israel to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah?

The Israeli military spent around $40 million to assassinate Hezbollah’s long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2024, an Israeli business newspaper has revealed.

Nasrallah was killed on 27 September 2024 in Hezbollah’s headquarters located underground in the Haret Hreik suburb south of Beirut, days after Israel began a wide-scale aerial offensive on Lebanon.

The bombing campaign came after months of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel in a fallout over the Gaza war. Israel’s offensive also included a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces still occupy five strategic hilltops.

The massive strike south of Beirut, which killed Nasrallah, also killed several other Hezbollah and Iranian officials present in the underground base at the time. Nasrallah had led the Shia militant group for over three decades.

His killing was officially announced by Hezbollah the following day.

The Marker, a business daily owned by Haaretz, said the mission cost an estimated 125 million shekels, around $34 million.

Roughly 25 million shekels (around $6.8 million) were spent on the munitions used in the strike itself, and the rest covered flight hours, fuel, and additional munitions dropped to block rescuers from accessing the site of the attack, which levelled several buildings in the residential quarter.

The F-15 jets reportedly dropped several munitions totalling 83 tonnes, with the force of the explosions felt around Greater Beirut, as massive plumes of smoke filled the afternoon sky.

Israeli interceptors used to counter a retaliatory Hezbollah missile attack on the day of the assassination cost an additional several tens of millions of shekels, The Marker says.

Days later and in another major airstrike, Israel assassinated Nasrallah’s cousin Hashem Safieddine, seen as a hardliner and who was set to lead the group. Much of Hezbollah’s senior leadership has been eliminated, and thousands of its fighters have been killed and injured.

Nasrallah was long regarded as a charismatic and commanding figure, known for his often lengthy televised addresses that hundreds of thousands would tune in to watch.

His assassination was seen as seismic across the region and as one of the heaviest blows dealt to the Iran‑led alliance of militant groups.

Israel continues to conduct near-daily strikes on Lebanon in violation of a November 2024 ceasefire deal, vowing to keep Hezbollah weakened. Tel Aviv has threatened to launch another offensive if the group is not fully disarmed.

The cost of war

The Marker estimates the cost of Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023 at around 222 billion shekels (around $60 billion). A ceasefire has held between Hamas and Israel since October last year, but Israeli fire has killed more than 400 Palestinians since.

Israeli forces occupy 52 percent of the enclave but are obliged to gradually withdraw as the ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase.

The newspaper says the most expensive day of the Gaza war happened early in the offensive, shortly after the ground invasion into the Palestinian territory, costing around 1.3 billion shekels, approximately $350 million.

Counting civilian expenditures such as compensation for businesses, property damage, funding for evacuees and financing costs, Israel’s Finance Ministry puts its estimation at 277 billion shekels ($88.36bn). The Bank of Israel says it has cost Tel Aviv 352 billion shekels ($112.29bn).

As well as the Gaza and Lebanon wars, Israel has bombarded Syria and Yemen and fought a 12-day air war with Iran.

It also conducted an unprecedented strike on Qatar’s capital, Doha, in a failed attempt to assassinate senior Hamas officials.