These days, the people of Gaza are following the news of the Israeli elections with such excitement that every meeting is without the inevitable question: “Did Netanyahu win?”

“So: Who won the election?” asks the shop owner Ihab – that’s not his real name, he wants to remain anonymous. He is in his late twenties, sells smuggled cigarettes and fears for his business. He believes that the sale of smuggled cigarettes can continue under current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, cigarette prices have skyrocketed since the start of the war: a shipment of four large boxes - each containing 50 cartons - sometimes reached a value of $250,000. Which means: A single pack was worth up to $500.

Given the unclear election results, no one in this store knows yet who will lead the next Israeli government. The conversation continues, moving from aid organizations to gangs of thieves to corruption under Hamas and back to the elections in Israel.

In addition to the shop owner Ihab, there is another person who Netanyahu wants to see at the head of the Israeli government. But most of the others sitting here with me in the cigarette smoke are hoping for Eisenkot - despite his career as a former military chief or perhaps because of it.

Yahya, who works as an electrician, agrees. Likewise Kamal, an employee of the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency, UNRWA. They hope to improve general living conditions, garbage collection, electricity and services in the UNRWA camps: “If Eisenkot can change this bleak reality we live in, then I hope he will form a government.”

Is Hamas over? Not at all, he says, no matter who governs Israel in the future. "As long as the taxes and the flow of money continue, we are safe. But Eisenkot would be better for us than Netanyahu."

Suli from the UN Development Program wants to go to the Netherlands. Mohammed, who trained employees in water desalination plants in Israel until the start of the war, is also preparing to leave the country. For him, both options – Eisenkot or Netanyahu – look bleak. “I will get my wife and children out of Gaza at the first opportunity,” he says.