Eisenkot pledges Hamas will not rule Gaza within 18 months of him becoming PM

Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief who now chairs the Yashar party, promised on Thursday that Hamas would cease to govern the Gaza Strip within 18 months of his taking office as prime minister. Israel Hayom reported that he made the pledge at the Black Arrow Memorial, close to the border with Gaza, and that he committed to destroying the group's military wing.

According to a statement posted by Israeli journalist Amit Segal, Eisenkot said the goal could be reached either through action built on the framework put forward by US President Donald Trump, which he noted had been accepted by Benjamin Netanyahu's government, or through the use of military and operational means. He also aimed directly at the prime minister: "As long as Benjamin Netanyahu is in power, Hamas will remain in power." Netanyahu's Likud party answered with a jab of its own, Ynet reported.

Who Gadi Eisenkot is

Eisenkot previously served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the most senior uniformed post in Israel's military. He now leads Yashar, a political party; the Hebrew name is often rendered with an exclamation mark in Israeli coverage. The Jerusalem Post described the event as a press briefing at the Gaza border, dated October 15, 2026, with photographs supplied by the party itself.

All the outlets that covered the remarks filed them under their election sections, placing the pledge in the context of Israel's 2026 election campaign. In that setting, a promise tied to "entering the prime minister's office" is a statement of what Eisenkot says he would do if he wins and forms a government.

What he committed to

The core of the statement, as quoted by Segal and summarised by Ynet, has three parts:

• A timeline: Hamas would no longer rule the Gaza Strip within 18 months of his entering office.
• A military objective: the destruction of Hamas's armed wing.
• Two possible routes: action based on the Trump framework that Netanyahu's government accepted, or the use of military and operational capabilities.

Hamas is the Islamist movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip, the coastal territory on Israel's southwestern border. Eisenkot did not, in the material available, describe who or what would govern Gaza after Hamas.

An echo of a promise from 2009

Ynet framed the pledge as coming 17 years after a similar one by Netanyahu. In 2009, when Netanyahu was leader of the opposition, he had promised to bring down Hamas rule in Gaza, according to Ynet. Eisenkot pointed to that promise in attacking the prime minister, arguing that Hamas would stay in power for as long as Netanyahu does.

The comparison matters for readers following Israeli politics: the line Eisenkot is now using, an opposition figure vowing to topple Hamas, is one Netanyahu himself used before returning to office. Ynet drew that parallel explicitly in its coverage.

Likud's response

Likud responded with a question, as reported by Ynet: how would Eisenkot topple Hamas without permission from his partners, whom the party named as Mansour and Tibi. The remark suggests Likud is portraying Eisenkot as dependent on political allies it considers unwilling to back such a move; Ynet's report does not give the full names of the figures mentioned or explain their link to Eisenkot.

The Jerusalem Post's report indicates that a response came from the Prime Minister's side as well, but the text available to us cuts off before stating what it was. It is not clear from the material whether this is the same response Ynet attributed to Likud or a separate one.

What the reports do not say

The reports leave several things open. They do not explain what the Trump framework contains or how Eisenkot would implement it differently from the current government. They do not say what military operations he has in mind under the second route, or how the 18-month timeline was calculated. No report sets out who would administer Gaza once Hamas no longer rules it.

The reports also do not identify Mansour and Tibi beyond their surnames, nor confirm what political arrangement, if any, links them to Eisenkot. The content of the Prime Minister's response, referenced by The Jerusalem Post, is not available in the material. Finally, none of the reports includes a reaction from Hamas or from the United States.