Netanyahu Bloc Leads in Israeli Election Vote Count

As vote counting progresses in Israel's 26th Knesset elections, the Likud party is leading with 28 mandates, followed by Yesh Atid with 21. The Joint List has secured 12 mandates, and United Torah Judaism has 11. Other parties' preliminary results show: Shas with 7, Yisrael Beiteinu with 8, Otzma Yehudit with 7, Religious Zionism-Identity with 7, and Ra'am with 4. Based on these partial results, the Netanyahu bloc holds 57 mandates, compared to 47 for the Eisenkot bloc and 16 for Arab parties. While the final outcome may shift slightly, the results highlight the Likud's position as the largest party and raise the critical question of who will form a majority government of 61 Knesset members. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the developing results, declaring victory for the Likud as the largest party and asserting that the right-wing bloc has a majority among the Jewish public. He called for the formation of a strong right-wing nationalist government and criticized the possibility of a government relying on Arab party support, deeming it "a disgrace." Netanyahu also thanked his coalition partners, signaling his intent to maintain existing alliances. Earlier, Yesh Atid Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, initially reacting to early exit polls that appeared unfavorable to Likud, had called for Netanyahu to step down, framing the election as a decision against him and suggesting a worthy leader would concede. As the vote count advanced, the Likud solidified its lead, and the Netanyahu bloc surpassed the opposition in mandate numbers, demonstrating Netanyahu's political experience in awaiting confirmed results while Eisenkot had prematurely declared victory.