The Israeli newspaper ‘Maariv’ published an opinion poll this Friday evening, in which 39% supported granting Netanyahu a pardon from corruption charges, while 17% said they had no specific answer. The poll showed that 67% of respondents supported the establishment of a government committee to investigate the events of October 7, 2023, or the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation announced by the Hamas movement, to be appointed by the Chief Justice. Meanwhile, 23% opposed this, and 10% said they did not know.
The survey revealed that if elections were held today, the Israeli opposition would win 62 seats in the Knesset, Netanyahu’s coalition would receive only 48 seats, and Arab members would obtain 10 seats. It is noted that on the thirty-first of last month, an Israeli opinion poll revealed that the ruling coalition in Israel would drop to 48 seats if early Knesset elections were held. According to ‘Maariv’, for the first time in three weeks, the opposition bloc to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaches a majority of 61 seats, excluding Arab parties. It is confirmed that if parliamentary elections were held today, the opposition could form a government by obtaining 61 seats compared to 48 for Netanyahu’s bloc.
The current Knesset term is set to end in October 2026, with Netanyahu refusing to hold early elections, and the next elections are scheduled for November 2026. On October 13, the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh hosted an international summit co-chaired by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and U.S. President Donald Trump, with the presence of leaders from more than 20 countries. During the summit, Trump, El-Sisi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signed a comprehensive document regarding the end of the war in the Gaza Strip.
On October 13, the Palestinian Hamas movement launched and later handed over a number of bodies of detainees, confirming that they continue to work to locate the remaining bodies to hand them over to Israel as well, which in return released about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its prisons, as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza. The ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement came into effect on October 10.
