Despite government promises to conduct the unilateral Disengagement plan from Gaza in a way that would be cost effective for the country and would create new, viable communities for evictees, the Ministry of Finance has admitted that the expulsion has cost the country NIS 1 billion to date. Army Radio quoted a ministry study that reports large ongoing costs due to continuing unemployment among evictees, and the government's failure to build the promised permanent towns.
The ministry predicts additional costs of NIS 140 million for every year that the government fails to implement solutions for the former residents of Gush Katif. The study also concluded that the SELA Administration was ineffective in assisting expellees, and poorly run. The ministry believes that the government's miserliness with the expellees has resulted in further costs for the taxpayers.
The SELA administration rejected the report, disputing the unemployment rate among former Gush Katif residents and defending the government's policies.