Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Gadi Eisenkot each vowed on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) to form a government after both came up short in the first election since the October 7, 2023 attack traumatised the country.
Voters turned out on Tuesday (October 27, 2026) in the highest numbers in decades to give their verdict on the divisive rule of Mr. The 77-year-old Prime Minister was unusually brief and did not directly claim victory. Netanyahu’s views on security and has backed the Gaza offensive following October 7 that has reduced the territory to rubble. After turnout of nearly 78%, the highest since 1999, Mr. The three mainstream Israeli television networks in exit polls gave the two blocs each around 51 seats — well below the 61 needed to govern — after initially giving an edge to the opposition. Israeli Arab lists were projected to win 17 to 18 seats, a sharp gain, with some Israeli Arab communities reporting near-universal turnout driven by outrage to often derogatory rhetoric against them by Mr.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister who has pushed the country sharply to the right and unleashed a wave of wars in response to the Hamas attack. Exit polls showed Mr. Eisenkot, a former military chief and political novice, and his opposition bloc neck and neck with Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-right camp and both well away from the threshold for a majority in Parliament. The strongest gains came from Arab Israeli parties whose voters turned out in soaring numbers against Mr. Netanyahu, who has relentlessly warned that the minority would dilute the Jewish nationalist direction in which he has taken Israel. Mr. Instead, he listed leaders Israel has killed under his orders and again hinted that he was ready for a third bombing campaign against Iran alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, his close ally. Mr. Eisenkot, speaking to his own supporters in Tel Aviv, issued a veiled warning to Mr. Netanyahu, who observers say could use a war to push for a unity government. Addressing Israel’s security establishment, Mr. Mr. Eisenkot shares many of Mr. But Mr. Eisenkot has vowed to create a more inclusive atmosphere inside Israel and to rein in extremist settlers in the West Bank who have attacked Palestinians with virtual impunity. Netanyahu’s far-right allies. Eisenkot. Netanyahu again suggested that a government relying on Arab votes would lack legitimacy. Arab lawmakers could give Mr. Eisenkot support in parliamentary votes to maintain a minority government without joining a coalition. If not, Israel could head to new elections.
Netanyahu, greeting cheering supporters at a Jerusalem convention centre after 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), called for a “strong government of the right” and said that the “Jewish and Zionist majority must unite”. “Israel has a unique opportunity with our partner President Trump to forever eliminate the existential threat of Iran,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Netanyahu, don’t you dare use Israel’s security for your political needs,” Mr. Eisenkot said. Eisenkot said that they served the state and not Mr. Netanyahu, calling him “a caretaker Prime Minister, without a mandate or the people’s trust”. Eisenkot said it would be a mistake to hold a second election and vowed to work “swiftly” to form a government. “The public has voted for change,” Mr. Key Israeli Arab leader Mansour Abbas said he believed the right had “suffered a major loss” and was open to working with Mr. Eisenkot said during the campaign he would not govern with Israeli Arab lawmakers — and Mr.
“A worthy leader would accept the people’s vote of no confidence and announce his retirement from political life today.
But he said: “Even if Netanyahu lost, that doesn’t mean Eisenkot won. Netanyahu against another option — a unity government with Mr. Eisenkot. Ben Gvir, who champions the expulsion of Palestinians and would likely be excluded from any unity government. Ben Gvir had succeeded in mobilising votes — of Israeli Arabs. The election came as Israel looks increasingly isolated on the world stage, driven by the war in Iran and the military campaign in Gaza, soaring settlement construction and violence in the occupied West Bank. Mr. Netanyahu himself faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over Gaza as well as domestic corruption charges that could land him in prison if he loses power. Mr. Eisenkot is a political novice whose mild manner is the antithesis of the smooth-talking incumbent. The son of working-class Moroccan Jewish immigrants, Mr. Eisenkot would be the first Prime Minister of Middle Eastern or North African descent. Eisenkot paid his respects privately at the grave of his son Gal, whose death fighting in Gaza has drawn empathy from many Israelis. Tens of thousands of Israelis are estimated to have flown in from abroad for an election seen as crucial for their country. Eisenkot’s bloc. “The country is going in a really, really bad direction.
Before voting, the 66-year-old Mr. Eilana Zisblit, 55, told AFP she had travelled back from Canada, where she has lived for almost 30 years, to vote for a centre-right party in Mr.
Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right firebrand who according to exit polls did not gain as much as many expected, warned Mr. “It would be a terrible mistake,” said Mr. Hebrew University of Jerusalem political scientist Gideon Rahat said Mr. Both for Jews and Arabs living in the country, and for Jews living abroad,” she said. The time to act is “now, or the country really won’t survive anymore”.
