TEL AVIV, August 8./TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to stay in office as long as he believes he is capable of leading Israel toward a safe and prosperous future.

"I will stay in office as long as I believe I can help lead Israel to a future of security, enduring security and prosperity," the 74-year-old politician said in an interview with Time magazine.

Asked whether he thought that an opposition leader who presided over Israel’s worst security failure should stay in power, Netanyahu paused, then said: "it depends what they do." "What do they do? Are they capable of leading the country in war? Can they lead it to victory? Can they assure that the postwar situation will be one of peace and security? If the answer is yes, they should stay in power," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu has won six elections as a member of the Likud party and has headed the Israeli government for a total of 17 years, albeit intermittently. He first became prime minister in 1996, staying in office until 1999. He later returned to power in 2009 and remained prime minister until 2021, when he ceded power to a broad coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, who took turns as prime minister after him.

The country's current government, led by Netanyahu, was established at the end of 2022 following an early parliamentary election in November of that year. The coalition was formed around the right-wing Likud party, which won 32 seats in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament). Extreme right-wing and ultra-Orthodox political forces joined it in the Cabinet. In total, the coalition has 64 mandates out of 120.

In light of Israel's ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, launched in response to an attack by Hamas, there have been repeated calls in Israel for the resignation of Netanyahu's Cabinet and a new election. These demands can be heard weekly at large anti-government rallies, where participants also demand that the government immediately agree to all the Palestinian radicals' conditions in order to free the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.