The Central Elections Committee on Tuesday released the 2026 results, showing Netanyahu’s Likud and allied parties amassed 53 seats in the 120‑seat Knesset, a shortfall that forces a negotiation crisis.
A coalition that includes Likud, Yashar, Israel Our Home and Together could muster 66 seats, but would require Netanyahu to drop his far‑right and ultra‑Orthodox partners, a move many see as politically costly.
Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc captured 48 seats, while the Arab parties Raam and the Joint List together hold 19, giving them the power to tilt a 67‑seat majority if they join a government that could break Eisenkot’s promise of excluding Arab partners.
President Isaac Herzog will convene with party leaders over the next 48 hours, setting a 12‑week deadline for a coalition; if none materialises, a fresh election will be scheduled.
In the streets of Tel Aviv, a single mother of two watches the news on her phone, her hope wavering between the prospect of stability and the uncertainty of another election.