Israel's election will be held on Oct. 27, coalition head says
JERUSALEM - Israel is set to hold a national election on Oct. 27, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, its first since Hamas’ 2023 attack and the wars that ensued in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The precise ballot date had been unclear since the Israeli parliament voted in May to disband, raising the possibility that the election could be held early.
However, coalition head Ofir Katz told a parliamentary committee on Sunday that the original Oct. 27 date set by law would be kept.
Successive surveys have suggested Netanyahu’s coalition of nationalist and religious parties would lose the ballot, though his political rivals still have no clear path to power and the political landscape may still shift.
Less than a year after a 2022 political comeback at the head of Israel’s most right-wing government to date, Netanyahu’s security credentials were left in tatters by Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, 2023. Polls show many are unhappy with Netanyahu over the outcome of the Iran war.
It is rare for governments in Israel to complete a full four-year term. Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving leader and has proven himself an unmatched political survivor.
In related news, Israeli attacks killed at least six people in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a 9-year-old girl, Palestinian health officials said, as mediators held more talks to safeguard the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Medics said Israeli gunfire directed at a tent encampment on the eastern side of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed 9-year-old Tala Abu Matar. The Israeli military said it was not aware of the incident.
An airstrike at a metal foundry in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood killed four people. Witnesses said the site was hit with three Israeli missiles.
Israel’s military told Reuters it had struck “terrorist” infrastructure, without giving further details.
Separately, the military said that since Thursday, its forces had killed at least two Hamas fighters in northern Gaza who were planning attacks on its troops.
Later on Sunday, an Israeli strike at a tent encampment in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in the south, killed at least one person and wounded several others, including children, medics said.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment.
The ceasefire agreed in October 2025 between Israel and Hamas halted major fighting in the enclave, but it has failed to stop Israeli attacks that have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since it took effect. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.
The latest violence comes as Hamas leaders visited Cairo for further talks over implementing the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
The discussions include Hamas disarmament and Israeli army withdrawals, according to sources close to the talks, adding that there had not yet been a breakthrough.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million people, most of whom have been displaced several times, now live on a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.
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