An opinion poll published by the Israeli newspaper Maariv on Friday showed that 42% of Israelis prefer the leader of the opposition National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, to head the government if the elections were held today, compared to 35% who prefer Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while 23% said they do not have a specific opinion.

The poll indicated that if elections were held today, National Unity, led by Gantz, would obtain 23 (compared to 12 now) of the 120 Knesset seats, while Likud, led by Netanyahu, would obtain 22 seats (compared to 32 now).

The "There is a Future" party, headed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, gets 16 seats, while the right-wing opposition "Israel Our Home" party, headed by Avigdor Lieberman, gets 14 seats.

The National Unity Party has declined significantly in recent weeks after public opinion polls predicted it would win 40 seats at the beginning of this year.

The results indicated that if elections were held today, the anti-Netanyahu bloc would obtain 62 seats in the Knesset (Parliament), compared to 48 for the pro-Netanyahu camp, while the Arab representatives would obtain 10 seats.

It is necessary to obtain the confidence of at least 61 representatives in order to form a government.

There is no possibility of holding elections on the horizon after Netanyahu refused to hold elections in light of the war.

Maariv indicated that the poll conducted by the Lazar Institute included a sample of 510 Israelis and the margin of error was 4.4 percent.

It is noteworthy that Gantz resigned earlier this month from the war government in Israel, and accused Netanyahu of obstructing important strategic decisions for political considerations, calling on him to go to hold elections as soon as possible and form a national investigation committee.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving more than 123,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, putting Tel Aviv into international isolation and causing it to be prosecuted before the International Court of Justice.