Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cemented his image as a hawk on security issues due to his service in an elite special forces unit that carried out some of Israel's boldest hostage rescue operations.

However, the legacy of Israel's longest-serving prime minister will be shaped again now after one of the worst security failures that Israel has ever witnessed. It will also be shaped by the fate of more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas militants during an attack that Israel says killed 1,400 people in more than 100 years. The country's days have been bloody since its establishment 75 years ago.

The death toll, accounts of panic, and images of violence coming from communities in southern Israel sent the country into a state of shock.

In his sixth term as prime minister, Netanyahu (74 years old) heads a right-wing coalition of the most extreme governments in Israel, and is under increasing pressure after the initial shock turned into an outburst of anger over the failures that allowed the attack to occur.

Netanyahu refuses to take responsibility and says that everyone will have to answer difficult questions when the war with Hamas ends, and in one of his rare press conferences he ignored a question about whether he would resign.

But the public mood changed, and opinion polls showed that a large majority held him responsible, a trend confirmed by pictures of his government ministers being harassed in public as they got out of their official cars.

An opinion poll conducted by the Maariv newspaper on October 18 and 19 showed that former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, the head of a centrist opposition party who joined a recently formed unity government, has the support of 48 percent of participants to be prime minister, compared to only 28 percent in favor of Netanyahu.

The newspaper "Israel Hayom" wrote in an article this week: "Netanyahu will leave. Like the senior officials of the army, intelligence, and the General Security Service. Because they failed."

The popularity of Netanyahu, who faces trial on corruption charges he denies, has been damaged by the fierce battle over plans to limit the powers of the Supreme Court, plans that have brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis onto the streets for months.

The political repercussions will be temporarily postponed in light of the continuation of Israeli air strikes, which the Gaza Ministry of Health says have killed more than eight thousand Palestinians, and in light of the Israeli tanks’ incursion deep into the besieged Strip.

But much will depend on the outcome of the operation, whose stated goal is to destroy Hamas forever, and on whether his party will continue to support it despite growing calls for change.

An ally of Netanyahu: The government must achieve the desired results

Danny Danon, the former Israeli delegate to the United Nations, said: “I am not worried about the opinion polls, but what worries me is achieving the results, and I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the government must achieve the desired results.” Danon is a member of Parliament from Netanyahu's Likud Party.

He added: "We witnessed too many rounds in the past, when pressure forced the government not to complete the mission and to leave Hamas in power."

He continued: "If the government does not implement what it promised, which is to eliminate Hamas, I am confident that this will not be acceptable, neither to the public nor to the political system."

But the military test, although difficult, is not the only challenge.

Netanyahu, who has exhausted all the goodwill of even allies like the United States during his battle over judicial amendments, is viewed with deep suspicion by most of the world because of his alliance with ultra-religious and nationalist parties.

In addition to pressure due to issues such as the relentless expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, international alarm is rising over the number of casualties during the bombing of Gaza.

The economy, already battered by uncertainty caused by judicial changes strongly opposed by most of the business community, has suffered an additional blow, with companies in sectors as diverse as construction and food services saying their revenues are witnessing a sharp decline.

Netanyahu, who usually appeared confident and reassured, seemed increasingly abnormal during the recent period, especially when he wrote a tweet late one night this week in which he held the leaders of the intelligence services responsible for the failure to warn him of the October 7 attack.

The tweet was deleted the next morning and Netanyahu issued an apology, but the damage had already been done and sparked criticism from the press and across the political spectrum.

A writer in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said about him: “He is not fit for the position of prime minister,” adding that Netanyahu should have resigned or been removed immediately after the October 7 attack.