Polls open as Israelis vote

Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, in the first national election since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. Many Israelis have described the election as the most consequential in their country's history. Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's main challenger in Tuesday's vote, was out early greeting voters at a polling station in Ofakim, in Israel's south.

A referendum on Netanyahu's leadership

The election is widely seen as a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership since the 7 October attacks. On that day in 2023, Hamas militants broke out from Gaza and killed nearly 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians, on the deadliest day in Israel's history. Three years of regional conflict followed, including this year's war on Iran, which sparked an ongoing global energy crisis and has killed thousands of people, mainly in Lebanon and Iran.

The backdrop to the vote therefore includes:

• the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 attacks and the leadership questions that followed them
• this year's war on Iran and the ongoing global energy crisis it triggered
• a conflict that has killed thousands of people, mainly in Lebanon and Iran

Trump's pardon letter

Donald Trump, who called for a pre-emptive pardon for the prime minister, wrote to Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Netanyahu's behalf. The intervention came as Netanyahu, 76, remains on trial for corruption in three separate cases, all of which are ongoing.

Settler violence and isolation

Under Netanyahu's government there has been a surge of deadly extremist settler violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to Israel's growing international isolation. Allies have condemned "settler terrorists" and announced plans to impose sanctions.

Voting is under way, with the election being covered live from Jerusalem. The result will determine whether Netanyahu's coalition keeps its majority in the 120-seat Knesset.