Published Updated

Earlier on this story24 Oct: Israeli Channel 12 Poll Shows Gadi Eizenkot Camp 52 Seats, Netanyahu Camp 50, Arab Parties 142 more

Israeli Politicsupdated 16m ago2 min read

Israel Election Projections Show Gadi Eisenkot’s Bloc Narrow Lead Over Benjamin Netanyahu

205outlets comparedA wider view of the story

89 Other46 West Asian43 Western Mainstream27 Other source types

This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.

Exit polls show a tight Netanyahu-Eisenkot race with no majority, Arab parties surge. Turnout reached record levels, with Arab voters contributing significantly to results.

Save coverage image
Landscape · 1200 × 630Square · 1200 × 12004:3 · 1200 × 900Portrait · 1080 × 1350
Read the story
Compared

205 outlets told this the same way.

Scored

www.timesofisrael › heavy-rains-close-highways-hiking-trails-in-south... was read line by line by the Watchdog: 6.0. See the score →

Deadlock as Arab turnout surges

Israel’s parliamentary election entered a phase of uncertainty as early projections showed the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot holding a narrow edge over Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, even as Likud remained the largest party in Israel. The Central Electoral Commission reported voter turnout at 77.77% at 22:00, surpassing the 70.6% recorded at the same time in 2022 elections, and the projections from channels 11, 12 and 13 indicated the “change bloc” would gather between 52 and 53 seats out of the 120 in the Knesset while Netanyahu’s outgoing coalition would obtain 50.

Gideon Saar described the opposition’s celebrations as “premature,” while Yair Lapid said Netanyahu’s bloc suffered a “crushing defeat.” Masrawy’s coverage framed the same moment as “indicators of a ‘Nearing Netanyahu’s End’,” and it said exit poll results from Hebrew channels 12 and 13 showed the Change Bloc led by party leader Yeshar Gadi Eizenkot winning 53 seats compared with 50 seats for the bloc of the right supporting Netanyahu.

Reporting for this sectionABCMasrawy

Competing claims and reactions

Gadi Eisenkot said the exit polls show “total distrust” toward Benjamin Netanyahu and promised to “act immediately to implement the will of the people, replace Netanyahu’s government and establish a Zionist mobilization government as soon as possible.” Netanyahu urged Israelis to go vote before the polls close, saying, “Call grandpa and grandma, uncle and aunt; we are in a house war; go vote now,” while the Israeli Prison Service reported polls inside prisons nationwide closed at 20:00 and turnout reached 88.7%.

The Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar also criticized what he called “pronouncements of biased commentators,” and he said on social media, “Likud is the largest party in Israel.” Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli justice minister, predicted that Eisenkot would become Israel’s next prime minister, telling Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv, “The main thing is that Netanyahu will not continue and be the Israeli prime minister.”

Reporting for this sectionABCTürkiye Today

What comes next in governance

The election outcome left coalition arithmetic unresolved, because exit polls projected a result so tight that it was “not clear who could form a government,” with the opposition bloc narrowly surpassing Netanyahu’s in the projections. AFR described Netanyahu as “fighting for his political life” as his allies fell behind their parliamentary rivals, and it said a surge among Arab voters left them to play kingmaker in preliminary exit polls.

Okaz highlighted that any coalition would need at least 61 votes in the Knesset, which is composed of 120 members, and it tied the stakes to Arab participation affecting the chances of competing blocs forming a government. Haaretz’s analysis added a political framing to the same moment by saying Tuesday’s Arab voter turnout was “unprecedented,” while it positioned the election as a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu’s “dark vision and cruel, dystopic, authoritarian policies.”

Reporting for this sectionABCOkaz