Netanyahu to run for new term in upcoming elections

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Saturday evening that he will run for a new term in upcoming elections, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.

On the air of Israel's "Channel 14", Netanyahu announced that he plans to run for prime minister in the next elections.

He expressed confidence that he will win the parliamentary (Knesset) elections, which are expected to be held in the fall of 2026.

As leader of the right-wing "Likud" party ("Union"), Netanyahu holds the record for the longest tenure at the head of an Israeli government - a total of over 18 years, with interruptions, since 1996.

During the last parliamentary elections in 2022, the right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu, who was ousted from power in June 2021 after 12 years of continuous rule, won the most votes.

Netanyahu's current mandate has been marked by large-scale protests against his judicial reform project, AFP recalls.

Since the beginning of the war, triggered by the unprecedented attack by "Hamas" against Israel, the families of hostages kidnapped by the Palestinian movement have sharply criticized his government.

Netanyahu said that the war with "Hamas" will end after the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which provides for the disarmament of the Palestinian Islamist movement, reported Agence France-Presse.

The second phase "also includes the disarmament of "Hamas", or rather the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and before that - the confiscation of "Hamas" weapons," Netanyahu said on Israel's "Channel 14".

"When this is successfully achieved - I hope in an easy way, if not, then in a difficult way - then the war will end," the Israeli leader added.