EXPLAINER: Israel Elections Briefing: The Countdown Begins (July 2026)

The Knesset was dissolved on 17 July – formally triggering the countdown to Israel’s general election on 27 October.

It will be a historic election: the Netanyahu government, which came to power in December 2022, is only the second in Israeli history to complete a full term in office. The outgoing 25th Knesset is also the first since 1988 to hold elections after a full four-year term.

It will also be the first chance for voters to pass judgment on the government which led the country on 7 October 2023, the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, and through the ensuing war with Hamas – the bloodiest in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.