According to a poll in Haaretz on Friday, only about 20 percent of Israelis thought they were winning the war, while 43 percent believed the conflict would end in stalemate. Only 48 percent of those polled supported Olmert's handling of the conflict with Hezbollah -- down from 75 percent at the beginning of hostilities only four weeks ago.
A poll in the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth showed a smaller margin of slippage, with support for the Olmert falling from 73 percent to 66 percent.
Israeli commentators have noted that people expected that the war would soon be over and the army would deal a crushing blow to Hezbollah -- but the perception has been that the conflict has already lasted a month with no sign of this happening.
In a sign of the unrest, the head of Israel's Northern Command, responsible for ground operations in Lebanon, was replaced last week, and there has been mounting criticism of the massive bombing by Israel's air force, which has so far been unable to deliver a crushing blow to Hezbollah's ability to launch rockets into Israel.
Olmert has also faced pressure from the Israeli military to continue the campaign as Israeli newspapers and television have reported that commanders in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have expressed grave misgivings over the proposed UN ceasefire.
All last week he faced squabbles in his Cabinet over what direction to take. In a sign of unrest at the highest level, Olmert barred Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni from attending the UN Security Council sessions and, according to reports, brought his animosity towards Livni out into the open, sending Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres for diplomatic talks overseas, leaving Israel as the only major player without a foreign minister in New York.
Livni is said to have objected to continuing with the military operation and voiced opposition during early stages of the campaign, apparently protesting over some of the bombing in Beirut.
At the Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, Livni made it clear to the IDF chiefs, who proposed an operation that would take a month or two, that if a political way out was found in a few days they would have to stop in their tracks.
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