Who is Gadi Eisenkot? Netanyahu's main challenger in the Israeli election

• Almost 60 per cent of betters are backing former military chief and opposition alliance leader Gadi Eisenkot to become the next Israeli prime minister in Tuesday’s election, data from prediction market Polymarket shows, compared to 27 per cent for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• Having lost a son in Gaza, Eisenkot projects an image as a security hawk and political outsider. His modest background and family sacrifices offer a sharp contrast to Netanyahu’s decades in high office and lingering corruption cases.
• Yet Eisenkot and Netanyahu, alongside almost all leaders of Jewish-led parties, reject the creation of a future independent Palestinian state. Both maintain that Israel must hold ultimate security control over the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, agreeing that troops must not leave Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed.
• Characterising the ongoing rule of Hamas as a state failure, Eisenkot has pledged to replace its administration within 18 months of taking power, through either American diplomatic efforts or military force.
• To unseat Netanyahu, however, he would probably rely on backing from the Democrats, which incorporates the remainder of a once-dominant centre-left Labour Party weakened by a rightward political shift. As the sole major Jewish-led party supporting a two-state solution, their involvement sets the stage for immediate friction in any future coalition.