Israel passes huge defence budget boost for military as Iran war rumbles on

Israel has passed its biggest-ever budget, with massive increases in spending for the military and ultra-Orthodox amid a new wave of borrowing to finance the hugely costly war on Iran.

The Knesset voted 62-55 in favour of the $271 billion spending bill, which opposition leader Yair Lapid described as "the greatest theft in the history of the state".

The reason appears to be his party's opposition to billions of shekels being earmarked for Haredi institutions, after ultra-Orthodox parties backed the government's bill.

"We are passing this budget under a right-wing government that will serve out its full term and complete its mission in security, the economy, and in reforming the judicial system," said far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

It came after these opposition parties voted "in error" to approve a surprise $255 million increase for ultra-Orthodox programs and institutions, including yeshivas.

The ultra-Orthodox parties reportedly backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bill after the return of funding for ultra-Orthodox religious institutions was guaranteed, previously blocked due to low levels of conscription among the Haredi.

Israel spent around  $6.4 billion in the first 20 days of the war, which is now into its 31st day and shows no signs of ending, with the two countries still exchanging missile strikes daily.

Israel had allocated $12.5 billion for the war, and with around $320 million being spent a day, the military needed more money for the campaign, which has killed around 1,500 people, including hundreds of civilians.

Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats, also lamented the passing of the bill.

"A spit in the face of the reserve soldiers, the fighters and the citizens who bear the burden," he described the bill.

"These theft tricks prepared to buy political survival with public money in a time of war are a moral bankruptcy of a government detached (from reality)."

Israel's invasion of Lebanon has killed 1,238 people and injured 3,543, with around  1.2 million people displaced, creating one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the country's recent history.