Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has signed an order to cut the country’s fuel excise tax for the next two months, citing a spike in gasoline costs due to the US conflict with Iran, Reuters reports.

On September 1, petrol prices rose by 0.16 shekel a litre to 8.25 shekels ($2.74) a litre, matching an all-time high and raising the public’s ire. At $10.41 a gallon, gasoline in Israel is among the highest in the world.

Some 44pc of the price is Israel’s “blu” tax, or its fuel excise tax, which was 3.66 shekels a litre at the start of the month. Another 15pc of the cost is value-added tax, and 33pc is the price of oil globally.

Smotrich ordered a 0.5 shekel-a-litre cut in the tax that will bring the price of gasoline to 7.75 shekels a litre as of midnight on Monday.