There is substantial evidence that the ancestors of those who would call themselves Israelites followed religious practices common in Canaan, and that they themselves were a subgroup of the what would broadly be considered Canaanites. Canaan itself would have been a sort of area between the great bronze-age empires of the day, encompassing modern Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.

Canaanite religion centered around two main figures El and Asherah. El is also referred to with other epithets such as Ba'al (who may be identified as the same as El, or as a separate storm god, or as a title given to lesser gods and kings), and was often conflated with, if not considered the same as, Yahweh. There is often inconsistency in naming and even whether a word refers to a god's personal name, attributes, or is used as a title. It can be rather confusing to us but I believe the ancients were generally comfortable with this sort of ambiguity.

El's consort was Asherah, who seems to have been a fertility/mother goddess often worshiped or honored in the form of a live tree or wooden pole. She and El were considered to have been the parents of the numerous lesser gods of the Canaanites.

In the Bible itself, complaints against worship of Asherah and Asherah poles by early Israelites are numerous, as are commands to cut down and burn these poles.

I think its fair to say that identifying Yahweh as a deity distinct from Ba'al or El, and certainly as the only one worth worshipping ("you shall have no other gods before/besides me") were an innovation and were key to the early self-identity of the Israelites. Asherah must have been considered quite a threat to his primacy given the strident admonishments against her worship.

It's interesting to note that even in the name Israel one finds the appellation "El", the term meaning anything from "El is just" to "El strives" or "Triumphant with El" and in Exodus God reveals he had been known as "El Shaddai" but now shall be referred to as Yahweh, or Lord. El and Yahweh may be translated Lord and/or God and El Shaddai as God Almighty - though these names may have been understood differently by different people in their own times.

You can find more information here: https://people.brandonu.ca/nollk/canaanite-religion/