‘Gaza’s suffering has become campaign fodder’: Palestinians fear the worst from Israel election

Humanitarian catastrophe largely ignored as rivals Gadi Eisenkot and Benjamin Netanyahu vow to end Hamas rule

As Israel prepares to go to the polls, Palestinians in Gaza are bracing for an outcome that could shape their future, knowing their fate rests with the country that has reduced much of the territory to rubble and killed nearly 75,000 people.

Gaza, where nearly a million displaced Palestinians face dire sanitary conditions, water shortages and the constant threat of Israeli strikes, has been largely absent from the election campaign.

Both Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar party have focused instead on the goal of destroying Hamas in the wake of the 7 October attacks and the trauma inflicted on Israeli society. The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding just across the border has received little, if any, attention.

“We hope a government will come to power that is less inclined towards killing, displacement and our extermination,” said Sami Abu Rumi, 47, from Rafah, who is now displaced in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis. “But, ultimately, we see the thinking of Israeli governments as largely similar.”

Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot has set out a clear plan for Gaza’s future. Both have vowed to end Hamas rule and both support Donald Trump’s controversial peace plan.

Eisenkot, the former military chief whose party is leading Netanyahu’s Likud in the polls, has pledged to restore Israel’s international standing after three years of war. Yet he is no dove.

A senior commander during Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah, Eisenkot, whose son and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza, later championed the “Dahiya doctrine”, which advocated overwhelming force against civilian areas where militants operated. Critics say the strategy has since been employed in Gaza, causing widespread destruction that, they argue, amounts to war crimes.

“Eisenkot talks of defeating Hamas, while Netanyahu boasts about military operations and the killing of Palestinians,” said Abu Rumi. ‘‘Gaza’s suffering has become campaign fodder. Meanwhile, families here struggle to feed their children, keep them in school and access medical care. With homes and infrastructure destroyed, simply surviving has become a daily struggle.”

Earlier this week, the Arab-led Joint List party in Israel aired a 48-second election video showing drone footage of Gaza’s ruins. “[We] behave as if everything that has happened here is completely normal,” the voiceover says. “As if tens of thousands of people weren’t killed here … as if entire cities were not destroyed and turned into wastelands.”

The party vows it “will not be silent”, adding: “[The other parties] want more destruction. We offer life.”

The chances of Arab parties joining an Eisenkot-led coalition are slim to none, although they could offer support from outside government. Yet among Palestinians in Gaza, pessimism runs deep: whoever wins, little is expected to change.