The Israeli military jeep rolled slowly through the dark streets of Beit Ummar, a Palestinian town in the southern occupied West Bank.

It was the summer of 1988. For the last six months, thousands of Palestinians had been confronting Israeli forces in an uprising that would later be known as the First Intifada.

In the front seat of the jeep was Benny Gantz, a young officer with the paratroopers. At nearly 6ft 5in he had to hunch his long frame to fit inside.

The night was suddenly lit up by Molotov cocktails exploding all around the jeep. The Israeli troops jumped out with assault rifles raised but their attackers had already fled.

“Other commanders would just say shoot everywhere. But not Benny,” said Dan Emergui, one of the soldiers in the jeep. “He’s calm and he’s cool. If he doesn’t have a reason to shoot, he won’t.”

Three decades after the ambush in Beit Ummar, Mr Gantz is once again trying to hold his nerve under fire, this time in the midst of an uphill battle to bring an end to Benjamin Netanyahu’s 13 years in power.