TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / September 27, 2024
Overall, the results show Netanyahu’s opposition bloc winning 57 seats, while his support bloc would garner 53 seats in the event of elections today.
The ongoing Israeli offensive on Lebanon, which has killed hundreds this week, has significantly boosted the popularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, increasing its projected number of seats in the parliament, according to a new poll published on Friday.
According to the survey, if elections were held today, Likud would lead with 25 seats in the Knesset, compared to 19 for its main rival, the opposition National Unity party led by Benny Gantz, the Anadolu news agency reported.
The survey, conducted by Israeli daily Maariv, highlighted that “on the backdrop of a series of harsh blows dealt to Hezbollah and the escalating fighting in the north, Likud has strengthened this week.”
This is the first time since Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza began last October that Likud has gained such an advantage, the report stated.
At the 79th UN General Assembly meeting on Monday, several world leaders called for the need to end Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon through a ceasefire deal that would elevate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and prevent further escalation in Lebanon.
Elections delay
Opposition leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, meanwhile, would gain 15 seats.
Then it is Avigdor Lieberman’s right-wing opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party with 14 seats.
Overall, the results show Netanyahu’s opposition bloc winning 57 seats, while his support bloc would garner 53 seats in the event of elections today. Arab parties are projected to hold 10 seats.
The report added that a majority of at least 61 members are required to form a government in Israel.
Imminent elections are not expected as Netanyahu has refused to call for a vote while the war is ongoing in Gaza.
Over 41,000 killed
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,534 Palestinians have been killed, and 96,092 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Famine and displacement
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
