Gal Cohen walks along a memorial wall engraved with the names of the men, women and children slain in the October 7 2023 Hamas attack on his kibbutz. For him, the idea that the man leading Israel, then and since, may be re-elcted on Tuesday is painful.
One in 10 residents of his kibbutz, Be'eri, were among the 1,200 people killed in Hamas' surprise attack. Dozens were among the 251 taken hostage to Gaza. It was Israel's deadliest single day and its worst security failure in decades.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have taken responsibility and stepped down, said Cohen, 61, and the fact that he has fulfilled a full term in office is a slap in the face. Tuesday's election, he said, is critical for Israel.
"If this government will stay, many hearts and minds will be broken. It will be really hard to continue," said Cohen.
Netanyahu has rejected blame for the breach and resisted calls for an independent investigation. He maintains that Israel's wars against Hamas in Gaza and its allies in Lebanon and Iran will result in a more peaceful Middle East.
But the task will only be complete with the downfall of Iran's clerical rulers, Netanyahu has said on his campaign trail, and only he has the conviction and standing to deliver.
Opinion polls have for months predicted a sharp drop for Netanyahu's Likud party at the ballot. But the rival alliance of parties on the right, left and centre looking to unseat him has no clear path to power either.
The result could be months of political stalemate, leaving Netanyahu at the head of a caretaker government.
In the days after October 7, Be'eri was sprawling with Israeli soldiers patrolling through burnt and shattered homes, floors stained with blood, doors pierced with bullet holes. In some spots, the stench of dead bodies still hung in the air.
The sounds of shelling and Israeli war planes flying over Gaza were incessant.
Three years on, the kibbutz is up and running and the sounds of construction of brand new houses are heard all around the leafy green grounds of the kibbutz, which expects most its members now residing in another kibbutz, to return by summer.
Traditionally a largely left-wing collective community of around 1000 people established in 1946, nearly all Be'eri votes went to the centre-left in the previous 2022 election.
Around 4% voted for parties in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition.
But the attack has had a profound impact on those who believed there could be peace with the Palestinians in this generation, Cohen said.
"Everyone in Be'eri has made two clicks to the right. But I still think that most of us will stay with the opposition, the parties that want to replace this government," he said.
Miri Gad Messika, 48, third generation in Be'eri, hasn't yet decided how to vote. But it won't be for Netanyahu.
"He failed as a leader so many times. And he shouldn't be in politics anymore," she said. "I'm looking for a leader. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to see any leader in Israel at the moment."
"I want to be optimistic," she added, "and I can only hope for a better change."
Looking to affect change, some Israelis directly impacted by October 7 are even running for parliament on Tuesday. They represent parties from across the spectrum, including Likud, though most are aligned against Netanyahu.
All, however, speak of healing divides in Israeli society.
The October 7 attack was preceded by mass protests against a bid by Netanyahu's government to curb Supreme Court powers, as defence officials warned that the country's enemies may seize upon the internal upheaval.
In the weeks that followed the attack, Israelis came together in grief but the election has once more brought their leader to the fore.
And while international attention has largely turned to the humanitarian toll taken on Gaza's civilian population, in Israel anger and pain over October 7 are still strong.
"I don't see any legitimate reason why this government is running again for election," said Ofri Bibas, the sister of Yarden Bibas who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza separately from his wife and sons, aged four and nine months.
Yarden was released in an early 2025 truce. His wife and children were slain in captivity.
Many families of October 7 victims are enraged by the lack of a state investigation into the breach. Netanyahu's rivals have pledged to launch an inquiry if elected and the perceived lack of accountability by Netanyahu's government are among the top issues on voter's minds, according to political analysts.
Bibas said her goal now is to make every Israeli remember October 7, "to take it with them to the day of the election and remember what happened here and who still hasn't taken responsibility."
On Saturday, thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv's Hostages' Square. One of the speakers was Danielle Alony, who was kidnapped from Nir Oz with her five-year-old daughter and freed from Gaza in a brief truce weeks later.
"Go vote," Alony urged the crowd. "In three days we can start writing a new chapter for our children. One in which truth is stronger than fear, responsibility stronger than dereliction and hope is stronger than pain."
