The elections in Israel divide society in two The Central Election Commission in Israel said that more than five million votes had been counted as of 21:00. Wednesday local time. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's bloc may win 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot is expected to win 48 seats. Projections show that the Arab parties the Joint List and Ram will win a record number of seats in the Knesset, with 19 in total. Netanyahu's right-wing bloc is leading, but lacks the votes needed to form a government - the two largest political blocs did not have the 61 seats needed to form a government. However, Netanyahu, 77, who has ruled Israel for 19 of the past 30 years, appears far from defeated despite the lack of a clear majority. About 480,000 special double-envelope ballots remain to be counted, which may change the distribution of seats in parliament. This includes votes by military personnel, diplomats and others who vote outside of their registered polling stations. Without these "army voices" neither the far-right Likud nor the opposition managed to turn the situation around, and the splitting of society into two remains the main result. The ruling camp, Netanyahu's Likud, wins 26 mandates, Itamar Ben Gabir's Otzma Yehudit, Yaakov Asher's "Torah Judaism" and Arie Deri's Shas - 7 each, and Bezalel Smotrich's religious Zionism - Identity - 6.

The elections in Israel divide society in two The Central Election Commission in Israel said that more than five million votes had been counted as of 21:00. Wednesday local time. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's bloc may win 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot is expected to win 48 seats. Projections show that the Arab parties the Joint List and Ram will win a record number of seats in the Knesset, with 19 in total. Netanyahu's right-wing bloc is leading, but lacks the votes needed to form a government - the two largest political blocs did not have the 61 seats needed to form a government. However, Netanyahu, 77, who has ruled Israel for 19 of the past 30 years, appears far from defeated despite the lack of a clear majority. About 480,000 special double-envelope ballots remain to be counted, which may change the distribution of seats in parliament. This includes votes by military personnel, diplomats and others who vote outside of their registered polling stations. Without these "army voices" neither the far-right Likud nor the opposition managed to turn the situation around, and the splitting of society into two remains the main result. The ruling camp, Netanyahu's Likud, wins 26 mandates, Itamar Ben Gabir's Otzma Yehudit, Yaakov Asher's "Torah Judaism" and Arie Deri's Shas - 7 each, and Bezalel Smotrich's religious Zionism - Identity - 6.

The opposition has similar results - honest! Gadi Eisenkot takes 21 mandates, Naftali Bennett's "Together" bloc - 12, Yair Golan's "Democrats" - 8, Avigdor Lieberman's NDI - 7. The final results will be announced on Thursday evening. The elections - the first since attacks on October 7, 2023 and the IDF invasion of Gaza - were seen as a referendum on confidence in the Netanyahu government.