Israelis are in the final hours of an intense election season amid reports of a clash between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military over Iran. MELANIE LIDMAN Israelis entered the final 24 hours of an intense election season on Monday, as reports circulated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have clashed with the Israeli military over initiating a possible escalation with Iran immediately before elections.

Tensions flared over reports that Netanyahu and his military chief of staff clashed over an instruction by the prime minister to carry out an “action” the army worried could reignite the conflict with Iran Netanyahu’s office denied the report, first published by Israel’s Channel 12, as “fake news.”Defense Minister Israel Katz also quickly denied the report. “I state unequivocally that there has been no intention by Israel of initiating an attack on Iran before the elections in Israel,” Katz wrote on X on Monday, calling reports of rifts between political and military leaders “completely baseless and false.”However, he stressed that Israel would respond forcefully if Iran attacks first.

Israel’s opposition candidates slammed the reports, accusing Netanyahu of endangering regional stability for his political preservation. Netanyahu’s main rival, former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot warned Netanyahu not to “dare to place your own political interests above the security of the state.”He posted on X, “Netanyahu, my eyes are on you.”

Avigdor Lieberman, head of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, part of the opposition bloc, sent a letter to Israel’s attorney general demanding a criminal investigation into possible treason by Netanyahu’s “attempts to drag Israel into a war on the eve of elections, including a willingness to sacrifice (Israeli) soldiers out of fear of losing the election.”Although Israelis are breathlessly approaching the election as one of the most crucial in years, people across the Middle East not expecting dramatic changes regardless of the victor. Both Netanyahu and his main rivals have similar approaches to Israel’s regional security in both Gaza and Iran.

In southern Gaza, Jamal Abu Deeb, who was displaced from Khan Younis, said that no matter who is elected, it won’t be good news for the Palestinians. “It is all war and destruction,” he said, adding that there are still strikes every day that kill people and children across Gaza. “Do you think whoever gets elected will give us a better life? Quite the opposite.”

“They all have the same playbook, they have no mercy — death and destruction for everyone,” said Ibrahim Qeshta, who was displaced from Rafah. “Eisenkot is like Netanyahu, he will be the same. Our people die everyday, for nothing.”Iran also watched the last-minute electioneering warily. “It makes no difference to us who ultimately takes the helm of a regime whose track record shows that it has brought nothing to our region but violence and bloodshed,” Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said in his weekly media briefing on Monday. ——— Associated Press writer Wafaa Shurafa contributed from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.