Key facts
- Netanyahu faces a fight for political survival in Israel's election on Tuesday.
- Opinion polls show a close race between Netanyahu's Likud party and a rival alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot.
- Netanyahu is campaigning on his wartime leadership and his alliance with US President Donald Trump.
- The election follows the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and Israel's subsequent military assault in Gaza.
- Eisenkot has said Israel's next government must prevent Iran from acquiring a military nuclear capability.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a fight for political survival in Israel's election on Tuesday, with voters weighing his leadership after the 2023 Hamas-led attacks, wars in Gaza and with Iran, and Israel's deepening international isolation. Opinion polls show a close race between Netanyahu's Likud party and its right-wing allies and a rival alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff. Netanyahu is campaigning on his wartime leadership and his alliance with US President Donald Trump, who has endorsed him. Eisenkot has accused Netanyahu of "relying on a campaign of fear-mongering, lies and threats." The election follows one of Israel's most turbulent periods since its establishment in 1948, shaped by the trauma of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and Israel's subsequent military assault in Gaza. For many of Netanyahu's opponents, the election turns on accountability for the security failures of October 7. Eisenkot has said Israel's next government must prevent Iran from acquiring a military nuclear capability. He has also criticised Jewish settler violence against Palestinians and opposes Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners.