By Steven Scheer and Pesha Magid

JERUSALEM, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a fight for political survival in Israel's election on Tuesday, with voters weighing his leadership after the 2023 Hamas-led attacks, wars in Gaza and with Iran, and Israel's deepening international isolation.

Yet Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader with 19 years in ‌office, remains a formidable survivor, with nationalist politics increasingly entrenched and Israel's fragmented system potentially leaving him best placed to form a government.

Opinion polls show a close race between ‌Netanyahu's Likud party and its right-wing allies and a rival alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff and security hawk with backers on the right and in the centre.

Voters began casting ballots after polling stations ​opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT). The polls close at 10 p.m....