More than 1 million Israeli citizens woke up on Sunday to find that a one-time government stimulus payment had been deposited into their bank account, according to Israeli media reports.
The country’s National Insurance Institute is expected to disburse the rest of the NIS 6.5 billion ($1.9 billion) stimulus package over the next few days—first to families with children under the age of 18, then to seniors and then to all other eligible citizens.
The government granted final approval to the stimulus plan on Wednesday following a series of amendments to the original proposal introduced on July 15 by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Under the original plan, all Israelis aged 18 and over were to receive a one-time payment of NIS 750 ($218). Couples with one child were to receive NIS 2,000 ($583), rising to NIS 2,500 ($729) for those with two children and NIS 3,000 ($875) for those with three or more.
According to the revised plan, families will receive NIS 500 ($146) for each of their first four children, and another NIS 300 ($87) from the fifth child onward.
Individuals earning more than NIS 651,000 ($191,000) per year will not be eligible to receive the grants.
