Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main opponent Gadi Eisenkot both oppose an independent Palestinian state, meaning the October 27 election is unlikely to produce a sweeping shift in policies that have hampered a decades-old peace process, Reuters reported in an explainer published on Thursday.

Source: Reuters via WDSM

Three years since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, the two men also share hawkish positions towards Gaza, saying they would resume the war there if Hamas, whose founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, does not disarm, Reuters reported.

The campaign has already turned Palestinian statehood into a central fight. Eisenkot posted a video on X showing Netanyahu shaking hands with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and expressing support for a Palestinian state, Middle East Eye reported, while Eisenkot himself wrote in August: "There is no Palestinian state, and in the government that we will form, a Palestinian state will not be established."

Where they differ: settlements

Netanyahu has presided over a rapid expansion of settlements, including small outposts in parts of the West Bank reserved for civil administration by the Palestinian Authority, where settlements are illegal under Israel's own laws, Reuters reported. Critics say the government has turned a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians.

Eisenkot favours settlement in principle but says it should comply with Israeli law. He opposes settlements built without authorisation, would dismantle outposts in areas where they are forbidden, and has pledged to prevent violence by settlers against Palestinians, Reuters reported.

He also opposes the Netanyahu government's decision to build in territory known as E1, which would bisect the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem — a plan settlers say is intended to "bury" the possibility of a Palestinian state, Reuters reported.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in the West Bank, in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war — a practice nearly all countries consider illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this, Reuters noted. The two leaders are also likely to rely on different coalition partners, which could set Israel on diverging paths even where their stated positions overlap.