Netanyahu Fights for Survival as Israel Votes Tuesday Under Hebron Lockdown

Netanyahu Fights for Survival as Israel Votes Tuesday Under Hebron Lockdown

Israel votes on Tuesday in an election widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving leader, who is fighting for his political survival against former army chief Gadi Eisenkot. Polls put the two men neck and neck. The 77-year-old's security-first reputation was badly damaged by the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and his campaign has leaned on a single slogan plastered across the country: 'Either the Right or Palestine.' He has also touted an endorsement from US President Donald Trump and warned that hostile powers want him to lose.

Security has dominated the final days of the campaign. After two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others near Hebron on Friday, Netanyahu ordered a full lockdown of the West Bank. The army says it has operated in more than 400 locations since then and arrested around 40 people it links to Hamas or Islamic Jihad, while Hebron's municipality says more than 2,600 people have been displaced from their homes. Palestinian workers with permits have been barred from most areas since Sunday, and all land crossings into Israel will be closed on election day itself.

Off the campaign trail, Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Gaza and a long-running corruption trial. He is hoping voters will instead judge him on the military blows Israel has dealt Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, which Israel has attacked twice. Whatever the result, Tuesday's vote will shape Israel's approach to the West Bank and the wider region for years to come.

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