As pressure mounts over the Gaza war, Israeli Minister Benny Gantz, a member of the wartime cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, has called for snap parliamentary elections in September.
“We must set an agreed date in September or, if you prefer, on the first anniversary of the war,” Gantz said in a speech Wednesday in his office in the Israeli parliament.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under pressure from multiple quarters in recent weeks, particularly since Saturday, when thousands of people gathered in demonstrations calling for his ouster.
This includes protests calling for increased efforts to secure the release of hostages captured in the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war.
The prime minister’s Likud party has rejected calls for early elections, but U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for new elections last month, harshly criticizing his handling of the conflict.
“When key members of Israel’s war cabinet call for early elections, and major polls show more than 70 percent of Israelis agree, we will know it is the right thing to do,” said Senator Schumer. I wrote to X.
Early elections would require the consent of the 61 elected members of the Knesset, where Likud holds the most seats but lacks a majority, or a majority of the members.
Likud said holding a national poll while Israel is at war would “inevitably lead to paralysis” and negatively impact the military’s fighting in Gaza.
If an early election were held, Gantz would have a wide lead over Netanyahu, whose support has been declining since October 7, according to the latest opinion polls.
The attack killed 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Palestinian militants have taken more than 250 hostages, with 130 currently remaining in Gaza, including 34 who the military says are dead.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says at least 32,975 people have been killed in Israeli retaliatory operations, the majority of them women and children.
