Gantz rises in Israeli election poll amid talks of unity gov't with Netanyahu

MK Benny Gantz's National Unity Party rose to 31 seats, but the gap between the coalition and opposition still narrowed in a new poll published by Maariv on Friday.

According to the poll, the Likud Party would earn 28 seats, Yesh Atid would earn 15 seats, Shas would earn 10 seats, United Torah Judaism would earn seven seats, the Religious Zionist Party, Yisrael Beytenu, Ra'am, Hadash-Ta'al, and Otzma Yehudit would earn five seats each, and Meretz would earn four seats.

The poll leaves the current coalition with 55 seats and the former coalition with 60 seats. (Hadash-Ta'al traditionally does not join governments)

The Maariv poll additionally asked respondents if they believe the government's actions could harm their way of life, with 50% of Israelis saying that they do believe this is the case and 44% saying they don't believe this is the case.

Among secular Israelis, 72% expressed concerns that the government could harm their way of life, while 86% of haredi Israelis said they were not concerned about any harm to their way of life.

Over half of Israelis believe light rail should run on Shabbat

A Maariv poll on Friday also asked respondents if they believed that the light rail in Tel Aviv should run in a limited format on Shabbat, with 60% saying that it should run on Shabbat and 35% saying it should not.

Secular Israelis expressed the most support (84%) for the light rail to run on Shabbat, while 79% of haredim expressed opposition to the light rail operating on Shabbat.

Among religious Israelis, 58% expressed opposition and 36% expressed support for the light rail running on Shabbat.