Netanyahu bloc falls short of majority in Israeli election – exit polls: As it happened

Welcome to RT’s live coverage of Israel’s parliamentary election, in which voter turnout is already breaking long-established trends. Overall turnout stood at 44.9% as of 2pm, the highest at this time since 1973, when Prime Minister Golda Meir managed to retain power despite the Yom Kippur War breaking out under her watch two months earlier. 

The story of a wartime prime minister attempting to hang on to power is a familiar one to Israelis, and Netanyahu is likely hoping to fend off Eisenkott, just as Meir fended off his Likud party in 1973.

Turnout among IDF soldiers – those actually fighting Netanyahu’s wars – stood at 28% by 1pm, almost four points higher than in 2022. 

Netanyahu and Eisenkott have both already cast their ballots. So too has Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. In a video message posted on social media, Ben Gvir called on Jews to come to polling stations to counter the “crazy voting rate” of Israel’s Arab citizens.

As of noon, the Bedouin village of al-Atawneh in the Negev Desert had the highest turnout of any Israeli municipality, according to data from Israel’s Central Elections Committee.

Ben Gvir isn’t the only Israeli right-winger spooked by Arab turnout. In a series of messages posted on X, Netanyahu claimed that Arab parties are busing voters to polling stations, and that “huge lines are being reported in the Arab settlements.”

“Muslim Brotherhood supporters are raiding the polling stations and stealing the elections,” he exclaimed in one post, before calling on his “Likudniks” to “wake up and act.”

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October 7 becomes Netanyahu’s ‘political kryptonite’ – RT reports (VIDEO)

The issue of October 7, and whether Netanyahu knew about the attack in advance, looms large over the election. Since 2023, multiple sources have claimed that Netanyahu was warned of an impending attack by Egypt, and last month, Haaretz reported that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed personally warned the Israeli PM about Hamas’ plans ten days before the attack.

Netanyahu denies both claims, but 43% of Israelis believe he knew something in advance, according to an Israel Democracy Institute poll published earlier this month.

Eisenkot has made this a central issue of his campaign, declaring last month that “Netanyahu received dozens of warnings about October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit for office.”

The election is exposing fault lines not just on the Israeli right, but inside the country’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. According to Haaretz reporter Aron Rabino, members of the Haredi community in the city of Modi'in Illit attacked fellow Haredim campaigning for the Haredi Public Party, which supports the military conscription of those not engaged in full-time religious studies.

The wider Haredi community has violently resisted any attempts to subject its members to the draft, fueling resentment among non-Orthodox civilians who are required to perform military service.

A knife-wielding man has been arrested after approaching Democrats’ leader Yair Golan during a campaign in Tel Aviv, according to police. Golan, a center-leftist, was not harmed, and has promised that “the violence will not deter us.”

Golan’s party is currently polling at between eight and ten seats, putting it in fourth place behind Yashar, Likud, and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s ‘Together’ faction.

Allegations of violence, fraud, and dirty tricks have come from all sides. Shortly after the suspect knifeman was arrested near Golan in Tel Aviv, two Democrats activists were punched at a campaign booth in the city of Holon.

Yousef Jabareen, the leader of the Arab Joint List party has accused Netanyahu of inciting violence and mistrust, pointing to the PM’s comments on Arabs “stealing the election” and his sharing of AI-generated images of queues of burqa-clad women queuing up to vote.

An image posted on social media by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, October 27, 2026

Yashar has also condemned the PM's social media posts. “Netanyahu is panicking and has begun making up stories and claiming that the election is being stolen,” Eisenkot’s party said in a statement. “This is no accident. He is already laying the groundwork to challenge the election results.”

One day before the election, a UN-commissioned report determined that Israel continued to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza after a ceasefire was declared just over a year ago. 

“Israel has committed war crimes and the crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, intentionally targeting Palestinian civilians as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza,” the report stated.

The report has barely factored in the election, as every major party is aligned on security matters. The Arab-led Joint List is the only party to have described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide,” while Ra’am – another Arab party – has accused the IDF of “unforgivable crimes against humanity,” while stopping short of using the term “genocide>”

Footage published by Palestinian media allegedly shows an Israeli soldier repeatedly striking a bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainee in the head in the southern West Bank on Tuesday morning.

Israeli forces reportedly arrested two Palestinians, a father and son, after settlers attacked their home. The IDF gave a different account, saying troops responded to a reported assault on an Israeli civilian and that the Palestinians resisted arrest. The soldiers’ conduct is under review, it added.

Eisenkot has made a last-minute appeal to Israelis to rally behind his centrist Yashar party, posting on X that making it the largest in the Knesset is the only way to oust Netanyahu.