The savage attack by the Hamas terrorist organization which left over 1,300 Israelis dead in southern Israel and the resulting war have had a dramatic effect on the Israeli political landscape, according to a new poll published by Ma'ariv and conducted by the "Lazar Studies" institute.
The poll found that if elections were held today, the National Unity party under the leadership of Benny Gantz would win 43 Knesset seats, while the current ruling Likud party would fall to 19 seats.
Yesh Atid would win 15 seats, United Torah Judaism seven, Shas seven, Meretz six, Yisrael Beytenu six, Hadash-Ta'al five, Ra'am five, Otzma Yehudit five, and the Religious Zionism party four seats. The Labor and Balad parties do not pass the electoral threshold.
For the first time since the last Knesset elections in 2022, the bloc of right-wing coalition parties collapses to 42 seats (compared to 55 in the previous survey), while the bloc of opposition parties jumps to 78 seats (from 65 in the previous survey).
The results demonstrate a loss of support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the intelligence failures that led to the Hamas massacre.
The coalition that existed before the Hamas massacre has been expanded with the participation of the National Unity party in an emergency unity government this week. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Benny Gantz reached an agreement on the formation of the emergency government on Wednesday night, and the Knesset approved the formation of the emergency government on Thursday night.