Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and challenger Gadi Eisenkot each said Tuesday night that he would work to form Israel’s next government after polls closed in the country’s first election since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.
Eisenkot, the former military chief who leads the centrist Yashar party, said preliminary exit polls showed public rejection of Netanyahu and the current coalition. He said he would meet with opposition party leaders to coordinate their next steps and seek a new coalition. Eisenkot also called for a “Zionist conscription government” and said a new government should pass a service law for all, dismantle Hamas and uphold Israel as a Jewish-democratic state.
Netanyahu spoke nearly five hours after polls closed and urged supporters to wait for the final results. He said Likud remained Israel’s largest party and called for a “strong right-wing national government.” He also rejected forming a government dependent on Arab parties, and he defended his government’s wartime record since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Early exit polls suggested Eisenkot’s bloc would win more seats, but later vote counts showed Netanyahu’s coalition holding more Knesset seats at the time of publication. Neither bloc appeared to have enough seats for a majority coalition, raising the prospect of difficult negotiations after a high-turnout election.
The outcome will shape Israel’s wartime leadership, its approach to Hamas, and its posture toward Iran. Netanyahu tied his case to military gains and joint operations with the United States, saying Israel and President Donald Trump had a “historic, one-time opportunity” to remove the Iranian threat.
