Israel's Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir issued instructions barring soldiers from leaving their units starting Thursday, 22 October, and raised the alert level to maximum on all fronts following a comprehensive security and military assessment. The measures aim to ensure the elections are held on time and securely, and included reinforcing the Central Command with a paratroopers brigade and additional forces in the West Bank. This coincided with a major political development: Blue and White leader Benny Gantz announced his withdrawal from the 26th Knesset election scheduled for 27 October, eight days before the vote, after polls placed him below the electoral threshold, with expectations he would issue a statement this evening. In this context, Foreign Minister Sa'ar called on right-wing parties below the threshold to follow Gantz's example and withdraw, while most surplus-vote agreements were completed: Likud signed with Religious Zionism, Shas with United Torah Judaism, and Ra'am with the Joint List, while Itamar Ben Gvir, Ofer Winter, Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelicha remained without an agreement.
On national security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented during a security briefing a three-page document setting out Israel's national security doctrine in 10 principles, foremost among them prioritizing preemptive strikes and offense over containment, and the possibility of striking Iran's nuclear program even without US support, along with a map dividing the region into an Israeli-Emirati axis, a Sunni axis comprising Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt, and an Iranian axis. Netanyahu renewed his threat to strike "the enemies," foremost Iran, saying Israel is capable of doing so "at the moment it is required," to which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded indirectly by saying Tehran has "tasks and goals that have not yet been achieved." Iran became a central campaign issue, with Gadi Eisenkot accusing Netanyahu of failing to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, and 65 to 70 percent of Jewish Israelis saying the ceasefire Trump announced in June does not serve national security. On the US front, an article in Ma'ariv addressed President Donald Trump's open support for Netanyahu a week before the election, warning of possible US pressure to keep him in power even if his camp loses, and raising the sole scenario that could justify a unity government: a complete regional deal involving Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian track, while Avigdor Liberman attacked Netanyahu, saying it is "convenient" for Trump to run Israel through a "Bibi puppet."
In Gaza, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he congratulates the Israeli army and the Shin Bet on the assassination of Hamas members last night in Gaza, stressing that Israel will continue working until Hamas is dismantled and Gaza is disarmed and cleared of weapons and tunnels, whether under the US-led prisoner release agreement or by the army itself, and saying that everyone who took part in the 7 October attack must be "eliminated," whether in the Gaza Strip or abroad. In contrast, Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexing the entire Yellow Line area, about 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, to Israel, and demanded the same be done in Lebanon; he also said the Oslo accords must be cancelled and the Palestinian Authority dissolved, accusing it of being behind provocations against Israel and international legal action taken against it.
In Europe, Britain escalated pressure on Israel over the construction project in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband warned companies, contractors and developers against taking part in the tender, hinting at possible sanctions including asset freezes, trade restrictions and legal consequences. This came on the last day for submitting bids for the construction of 1,234 housing units, with the opening and review of bids postponed to 19 November after the Israeli election; the E1 project includes 3,401 housing units. Domestically, Katz stressed that dealing with violence by settlers in the West Bank is the responsibility of the Israeli police, not the army, noting a comprehensive plan to organize civil law enforcement in the West Bank that does not include a recommendation to return to administrative detention for settlers. Netanyahu said Itamar Ben Gvir will be a senior minister in the government, while Eisenkot denied there would be an Arab party in the next government and described Netanyahu's talk on the matter as a lie.