Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Finance Minister at 2012 Innovate. Invest. Israel. Conference. Photo: Israel's Ministry of Finance.

Economic paralysis in southern Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense in November contributed to Israel’s budget deficit jumping to a new high of 4.2 percent of gross domestic product, double the original target set in the 2012 budget, Israel Hayom reported.

In November, tax revenues fell 5.6 percent compared with the previous November.

Tax revenues in November totaled only 17.4 billion shekels ($4.5 billion), causing the state to accumulate NIS 3 billion ($890 million) in debt during the month.

Since the start of 2012, the state has accrued a debt of NIS 25.9 billion ($6.6 billion), even though the debt for the entire year of 2012 was supposed to be just NIS 18.3 billion ($4.8 billion).