Gadi Eisenkot sought to put Netanyahu’s wartime record at the center of the election campaign, promising that a government under his leadership would end Hamas rule in Gaza within 18 months.
Speaking near the Gaza border, the former military chief and leader of Yashar! with Eisenkot accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of squandering the opportunities created by Israeli troops. Likud responded by questioning whether Eisenkot’s potential political alliances would prevent him from acting against Hamas.
“How will you topple Hamas without getting permission from your partners, Mansour and Tibi?” the party said, referring to Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi.
Eisenkot’s pledge combined a deadline with two possible routes: implementing President Donald Trump’s proposed framework, which he said Netanyahu’s government had accepted, or using military force.
“Within 18 months of my taking office as prime minister, Hamas will no longer rule the Gaza Strip,” he said. “We will bring about the destruction of Hamas’s military wing.”
His central argument was that Israel’s military successes had not produced the political and security outcomes needed to prevent another war. Three years after the October 7 massacre, he said, Hamas remained in control of Gaza, was acquiring weapons and was rebuilding its fighting capacity.
“As long as Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power, Hamas will remain in power,” Eisenkot said.
The criticism extended beyond Gaza. Eisenkot argued that the government had failed to turn battlefield achievements in Iran and Lebanon into the strategic results Netanyahu himself had promised. He accused the prime minister of yielding to coalition demands and draft evaders while presenting himself to voters as an uncompromising leader.
Israeli elections: Gadi Eisenkot attempts to overtake Netanyahu as next Israeli Prime Minister
The speech builds on a dispute that began while Eisenkot was inside Netanyahu’s government. He served as an observer in the small war cabinet established after the October 7, 2023, attack, before leaving the government alongside Benny Gantz in June 2024 over what they described as Netanyahu’s failure to develop a strategy for the Gaza war.
Eisenkot, who led the IDF from 2015 to 2019, is now presenting that military experience as a qualification for national leadership. In his address, he said he had the knowledge needed to oversee the military, Mossad and Shin Bet.
He also pledged to establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7, arguing that investigating the failures and implementing its findings were essential to preventing another disaster.
“We must not accept the notion that such failures are an inevitable fate,” he said. “There is a way to prevent the next disaster.”