Overview
- Exit polls after Tuesday's vote showed neither Benjamin Netanjahu's bloc nor Gadi Eisenkot's bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority.
- Likud emerged as the largest single party in early projections while overall turnout was unusually high at about 77.7 percent.
- Arab parties recorded record gains of roughly 17 to 18 seats, giving them potential kingmaker power in tight coalition arithmetic.
- Police made arrests over suspected vote‑buying that prompted mutual accusations between Netanjahu and Ra'am leaders, and the election commission called the incident isolated.
- Hundreds of thousands of servicemember ballots remain to be counted in the coming days and could shift tight margins before the Central Election Commission delivers official results and the president begins coalition consultations.