Benny Gantz pulls out of 2026 Knesset election eight days before polling date

His decision follows sustained polling suggesting Blue and White would fall short of the minimum vote share required to win seats in the 120-member parliament.

Although Gantz is withdrawing as a candidate, Blue and White will remain on the ballot on October 27.

The Israeli electoral threshold is 3.25 per cent of the vote, equivalent to roughly four seats.

In an interview with the Times of Israel last month, Gantz said he would halt his campaign if final-week polling showed his party was unlikely to enter parliament, promising that his supporters’ votes would not be wasted.

A source close to Gantz said the timing of the decision was directly linked to voting among military personnel, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday. "The decision was made today because soldiers start voting tomorrow, and he did not want to needlessly waste the votes of soldiers who wanted to support him," the source said.

"Ultimately, he made the necessary decision because he understood that, under the current circumstances, there was no point in running."

Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party, also welcomed the decision, saying: "Gantz made a responsible and correct decision.

“At a decisive moment for Israel's future, our shared responsibility is to ensure victory for the bloc seeking change."

He added that his party was committed to genuine political reform and to building a Jewish, democratic, liberal, strong and secure Israel.

The withdrawal marks an apparent U-turn from Gantz's remarks just a week earlier at the "People of the State" conference organised by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, where he insisted he would remain in the race regardless of the polls. "No matter what happens, I'm in because we need to save the country," he said at the time.

"I'm running all the way. We are facing the greatest challenges imaginable, and there is no way to solve them with a narrow government."

Gantz, 67, entered politics in 2018 after a 38-year military career. He served as IDF chief of staff from 2011 to 2015, overseeing Israeli military operations including Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014.

He later founded the Israel Resilience Party, which joined forces with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem to form the Blue and White alliance ahead of the 2019 election.

The alliance initially emerged as the principal challenger to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, winning a substantial share of the vote across three elections between 2019 and 2020.

But Gantz’s political fortunes shifted when he agreed to enter a rotation government with Netanyahu in 2020, serving as defence minister and alternate prime minister till 2021.

The partnership was intended to break Israel’s prolonged political deadlock, but it collapsed after months of disagreements, including a failure to pass a state budget. Gantz’s decision to join Netanyahu’s government also split his original alliance, with Lapid and other senior figures leaving the partnership.

He served as a minister without portfolio from 2023 to 2024, as the minister of defence between 2020 and 2022, and as deputy prime minister between 2021 and 2022.

After October 7, he joined Netanyahu’s emergency government and war cabinet, presenting his participation as a national responsibility during wartime. He resigned from the emergency government in June 2024, accusing Netanyahu of failing to provide a clear strategic plan for the war and the future of Gaza.

Throughout the current campaign, Gantz has argued that Israel needs a government capable of bridging the divide between political camps rather than relying on narrow coalitions.

He is expected to address reporters on Monday evening to explain his decision.