Only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to stay in office after Gaza war, poll finds

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Only 15% of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep his job after the war on the Gaza Strip, a new opinion poll found on Tuesday.

The survey, conducted by Israel Democracy Institute, showed that 23% of Israelis favor former Defense Minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz to become prime minister.

Around 30.5% of respondents named no preferred leader for the post, the poll found.

The survey included 756 people with a margin of error reaching 3.5%.

Netanyahu faces widespread criticism within Israeli circles due to the failure to detect the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and the way he is handling the issue of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 22,185 Palestinians have since been killed and 57,035 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.