Image source, Getty Images

We are pausing our live coverage now. Here is what we know so far:

• There is no clear winner in the election, which remains too close to call

• Two revised exit polls showed Netanyahu's right-wing camp and his opponent Gadi Eisenkot's bloc tied at 51 seats. The winning bloc needs at least 61 seats to form a majority government.
• A third updated exit poll showed Netanyahu's bloc slightly ahead
• Arab parties are on track to record their best results ever, winning at least 17 seats, according to some exit poll data
• Netanyahu said he was waiting for "real results", vowing to form a "strong, right-wing" national government
• Eisenkot celebrated the results at his party's headquarters, telling supporters "we made history"
• Official counts are still under way, with approximately 25% of votes tallied by 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT)
• Commentators earlier said it was a "very, very bad night" for Netanyahu

You can catch up on all the latest developments in our news story here.

Before concluding his speech, Netanyahu tells his supporters that Israel has a "unique opportunity" alongside President Donald Trump to "remove the Iranian threat once and for all".

Israel and the US launched joint strikes on Iran in 2025 targeting nuclear facilities, and jointly struck Iran in February beginning the current ongoing conflict.

Commentators say it is unlikely that either a Netanyahu or Eisenkot-led bloc would change the current course of Israel's involvement in the Iran war.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu says the current results show it is too early to call, saying he is waiting for "real results" before an outcome can be decided.

Current projections show his bloc tied with the bloc led by his main rival Gadi Eisenkot.

He says Israel cannot be led by a government held up with "Arab backing".

The Arab parties are on track to win a record number of seats, with both major blocs falling short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Israeli parliament.

Image source, Reuters

Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking at his election rally where supporters of his Likud party have gathered.

"Likud is the largest party," he says to a cheering crowd.

"We must establish a strong right-wing national government."

While current polls show Likud has won the most seats out of any party, it still falls far short of a majority needed to form a government.

The bloc led by Netanyahu and the bloc led by opposition parties are currently tied, according to revised exit polls from two of Israel's broadcasters, while a third has put Netanyahu marginally ahead.

No party has ever won an outright majority, which means a coalition government has always been formed.

This process begins after the votes have been counted and Israel's president will consult with party leaders, and then invite whichever leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government.

That candidate then has 28 days to form a coalition, although they can request a 14-day extension if extra time is needed.

If negotiations fail within this period, the president can choose another candidate to try to form their own coalition.

If that also fails, Knesset members can ask the president to allow a third leader to try. And if that's unsuccessful, new elections will be called.

Between 2019 and 2022, Israel held five separate elections as parties struggled time and again to co-operate.

Following the 2022 elections, Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud emerged as the biggest party, winning 32 of the 120 seats. He later formed a coalition with several far-right parties, which gave him and his allies a majority of 64 seats.

New exit poll show a tie between Netanyahu and Eisenkot's blocs.

Israel's Kan 11 and Channel 13 news networks have published updates to their exit polls showing the two rival blocs projected to win 51 seats each.

Channel 12 has also revised its exit poll showing the Eisenkot-led bloc marginally behind on 50, while placing Netanyahu's bloc on 52. Earlier, they showed the anti-Netanyahu bloc slightly ahead of the incumbent prime minister.

The winning bloc needs at least 61 seats in the Knesset to form a majority government.

Official results are starting to trickle through from Israel's Central Electoral Committee with 2.5% of votes counted.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Mahdi Kabaha

Exit polls show record gains and turnout for the Arab parties.

I spoke to one of the activists who campaigned to get out the Arab vote - 29-year-old Mahdi Kabaha, a lawyer in the mainly Arab northern town of Umm Al-Fahm.

"This is a historic night. Arab society showed up and said it clearly: we are here, and we are part of the decision," he says.

Arab voters make up about a fifth of the Israeli electorate and just over half voted in the last election. Many have been reluctant to vote in the past as they “don’t want to legitimise Israeli institutions," Kabaha says.

He has been promoting voting among the Arab community in order to remove far-right ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

One of the biggest issues for Arab voters is crime in Arab areas and a lack of policing.

Kabaha campaigned for Israeli Arabs to come out and vote, telling them they should use their voting power to shape the government. “There is a big difference between [left-leaning Democrats leader] Yair Golan and Ben Gvir in the government. One wants to take more land and expel Palestinians, and the other wants to find a solution for two people,” he adds.

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Eisenkot's watch party

Image source, Reuters

Gadi Eisenkot has just arrived at his party’s HQ here in Tel Aviv, taking a long walk through the crowd onto stage, surrounded by the candidates from his Yashar Party.

“We made history,” he says. “This morning, the people of Israel went to a referendum on the leadership of the coming years. The public decided in favour of change.

"The Israeli public voted against the continuation of Netanyahu's term," he says, to big cheers from the crowd.

“In an election with such high voter turnout, it would be a mistake to go to additional elections. It is our duty, and my personal responsibility, to do everything to respect the will of the people.”

The national anthem was then played before he took an Israeli flag from the crowd and waved it, before exiting the stage.

The official vote count is starting to come through.

So far 2,670 votes have been tallied, according to Israel's Central Elections Committee. That represents almost 0.1% of the total number of votes.

Since the polling stations closed at 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT), reporting has relied on exit poll data – which is not an official count, but rather surveys of voters exiting polling stations conducted by media companies.

While the official tally so far is not a meaningful sample size, it does show the electoral body is starting to report as expected.

The turnout for this year's Israeli general election was 77.7% as of 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) when polls closed, the country's Central Election Committee has said.

The figure represents 5,695,682 individuals having cast their vote by this time, with the committee saying it is the highest percentage recorded at that time since 1999.

Netanyahu's party being the largest in the Israeli exit polls is a "meaningless consolation prize" compared to the prediction of Gadi Eisenkot's bloc being the biggest group, a leading Israeli commentator has said.

"He's had incredible comebacks before, but for the Netanyahu coalition - this is a very, very bad night," Anshel Pfeffer, the Economist's Israel correspondent, tells BBC News.

When asked if the bloc led by Eisenkot has the best chance of forming a governing coalition according to the exit polls, he responds by saying Netanyahu currently has the least.

Pfeffer says he feels the Likud leader could only make a comeback if he manages to convince centrist parties to join him in a unity government, adding: "I'm not going to put that past him."

Image source, Reuters

The leader of Israel's left-leaning Democrats party has said it is willing to "work with all our partners" and "bridge differences" to form a new government for the country.

Speaking in a post on X following the exit polls, Yair Golan says "the public has spoken" and "ousted the Netanyahu government", adding this is a "historic opportunity to establish a true government of change".

Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says in a separate post that Netanyahu's bloc has suffered a crushing defeat.

For context: Official results will start being released from midnight local time (22:00 GMT), but counting could take days.

Image source, Reuters

Gadi Eisenkot is a former head of the Israel Defense Forces, now leading the centrist Yashar party. He has built his campaign on calls for accountability over the security failures that led to 7 October.

His popularity stems partly from his military credentials and his status as a relative political newcomer, having formed his party only last year.

He lost his son, a soldier, in the first months of the Gaza war, and served in Israel's war cabinet under Benjamin Netanyahu until resigning in 2024 over the PM's handling of the conflict.

On Gaza, Eisenkot does not differ hugely from Netanyahu. He recently pledged to end Hamas rule in the territory within 18 months, through a US-led peace plan or, if necessary, military means.

He supports Israeli settlements in general, but opposes proceeding with the controversial E1 settlement project which would, in effect, split the West Bank in two.

Arab-majority parties could win record number of seatspublished at 22:08 GMT 27 October

22:08 GMT 27 October

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Reports suggest that a high turnout among Israeli Arab voters has been translated into electoral success, with the two Arab-majority parties (The United Arab List - or Ra’am - and The Joint List, an alliance of three smaller parties) projected to win as many as 19 seats between them (which would be a record).

The main parties in Israel have traditionally been extremely reluctant to include Arab parties in their coalitions, but with the gap between the two main electoral blocs projected to be narrow, the Arab-majority parties will be hard for Eisenkot and Netanyahu to ignore.

In past Israeli elections, Arab turnout has generally been lower than Jewish turnout. But this time, the desire to see the back of Netanyahu seems to have driven large numbers of Arabs to the polls. Netanyahu, clearly aware of this danger, spent much of election day warning of an effort by Arab voters to "steal the election".

Until now, Eisenkot has said the Arab parties do not meet his conditions for joining a coalition. The mathematics of the new Knesset may force him to reconsider, either by relying on their informal support in the event of a minority government or by bringing in Ra’am as a formal coalition partner.

After the 2021 elections, Ra’am was part of a coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. It lasted a year before collapsing.

Image source, Reuters

Gideon Saar, a Netanyahu ally who currently serves as foreign minister, says celebrations on the left of Israeli politics are "premature".

He says the exit polls clearly show Netanyahu's Likud is the largest party.

As we've been reporting, while the exit polls show Likud on course to be the largest party, they show the anti-Netanyahu bloc led by Eisenkot set to be the largest group.

Weeks or months of protracted talks may lie aheadpublished at 21:31 GMT 27 October

21:31 GMT 27 October

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Eisenkot's watch party in Tel Aviv

Image source, Getty Images

The positive news for Israelis who want to oust Netanyahu is that these projected results suggest it will be very hard for him to form a government.

The bad news is that his key challenger, Eisenkot, will also struggle.

It is the Arab parties who may hold the key to breaking the political deadlock. They’re projected to defy expectations to win a record 17 or 18 seats, in part driven by a strong turnout from Israel’s Arab population, many of whom refer to themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.

What lies ahead is likely to be weeks or months of protracted negotiations between the parties, with numerous options on the table - but none of them easy.

Could Eisenkot form a minority government propped up by the Arab parties? Could Netanyahu persuade Eisenkot to break his election promises and form a unity government of Israel’s centrist and right-wing parties? Could Netanyahu lure one of the parties from Eisenkot’s bloc to break away and join him - or vice versa?

These are all options being discussed by Israeli commentators.

For a government to be formed, it seems likely someone will have to break their election promises.

Israeli exit polls suggest Gadi Eisenkot's bloc has won the largest number of seats but has fallen short of a majority.

They also suggest Netanyahu's Likud party is set to be the biggest single party in the Israeli parliament.

Official results will start being released from midnight local time (22:00 GMT), but counting could take days.

Image source, Reuters

Eisenkot says initial exit poll results "indicate a complete vote of no confidence in Netanyahu" and his government.

He says that if the exit polls are correct, he will "act immediately to fulfil the will of the people, replace the Netanyahu government" as soon as possible.

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent at the Likud watch party in Jerusalem

At the Likud watch party in Jerusalem, the room is full of journalists - but there are only a few supporters.

The large screen is playing videos with Benjamin Netanyahu and clips with words of support from US President Donald Trump.

So far, there has been no official reaction following the announcement of the exit polls.

Likud, according to them, is likely to be the largest party in the Knesset although the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as the largest group but well short of a majority.

After the results are confirmed, President Isaac Herzog will be consulting parties after to invite the leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government.