Tel Aviv - The hardline, opposition Likud party of former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu is gaining ground amid the fighting in Gaza, according to an opinion poll published Thursday, one month before elections are scheduled in Israel on February 10.

If the elections were held today, Likud would become the largest party in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, obtaining some 33 mandates against some 27 for the ruling, centrist Kadima party of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the poll predicted.

While earlier in the campaign the Likud also led Kadima, according to other polls published two and three weeks ago, Kadima had managed to bridged the gap.

Kadima has 29 seats in the outgoing Knesset, while the Likud has 12. According to Thursday's poll published in the Israel Today daily, the left-to-centre Labour Party would drop from 19 to 15 mandates.

Israel Today commissioned the New Wave polling institute for the telephone poll, which questioned 625 adult Israelis. The poll had a margin of error of 3.9 per cent. (dpa)