Israeli opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival in upcoming elections, vowed on Thursday (October 15, 2026) to end Hamas rule in Gaza if he wins office following the October 27 vote.
Hamas announced in July that it was disbanding its governing body to facilitate the transfer of Gaza’s administration to a nascent technocratic Palestinian committee called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). Later in July, Hamas announced it had agreed to a deal involving the handing over of its weapons to the NCAG. Israeli forces were allowed to stay in 53% of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, but a year later they control about 70%, according to official accounts. In response to the attack, Israel launched a massive offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 74,300 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas and whose figures are generally considered reliable by the United Nations.
He also reiterated a pledge to establish a state commission of inquiry to identify those responsible for any security lapses leading up to October 7, a push the government has so far resisted.
“Today I give a public commitment: from the moment I enter the Prime Minister’s Office, within 18 months Hamas will no longer rule the Gaza Strip,” the leader of the centre-right Yashar party said at a press conference near the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. He said he would achieve this either by implementing U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, which provides for the gradual disarmament of Hamas and a transfer of power, or through “creative operations” by Israel’s military aimed at destroying the Palestinian movement’s military wing. “There is a way to prevent the next disaster,” he said.
