Israel election 2026 LIVE updates: Netanyahu, Eisenkot go head-to-head in nation’s first and ‘most consequential’ election since October 7 attacks

Key PostsIsraelis cast their votes amid intensifying war chatterBy Matthew KnottGood morning and thanks for joining our live coverage of Israel’s election, which is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s almost two decades in power.Polls close at 10pm in Israel (7am AEDT) in the first national elections since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, a day that shook the country and plunged the Middle East into turmoil.By early afternoon and with hours remaining until polls closed, 45 per cent of eligible voters had cast a ballot, according to Israel’s central election committee, the highest since 1973.Netanyahu’s hold on power is at stake, with the prospect of a return to war with Iran dominating the final days of the campaign.Centrist rivals are promising to usher in a new era, but the polls have shown a close result between the two blocs, and it may take time before clear results are known.Voters line up to cast their ballots.AP Photo/Ohad ZwigenbergIsraeli media reports passed by the official military censor and published in the final days of the campaign have stated that Netanyahu pressured his military chief to provoke a confrontation with Iran ahead of the elections, suggesting high-level leaks from within the defence establishment. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz denied the reports.US President Donald Trump told Fox News on the weekend he was deciding whether to “make a deal” with Iran or “finish it off”, adding: “It’s getting to be decision time.”Netanyahu posted an alarming AI-generated image of a nuclear mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv and spoke about using cryptocurrency to avoid international sanctions in the final days of the campaign.Read more here.Latest Posts4.13amHow will the government be decided?By Matthew KnottA single party has never won enough seats to govern Israel in its own right. This means governments always comprise a multi-party coalition, often made up of several parties with significant ideological differences and competing personalities.After election day, President Isaac Herzog will hold consultations with the leaders of all the parties elected to parliament. Based on these conversations, he will choose the leader he believes is most likely to form a viable coalition government. Depending on how close the result is, the president can have significant influence over who forms government.While the president typically gives the party with the most votes an opportunity to try to form a government, this is not always the case. For example, in 2009, former diplomat and minister Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima party won 28 seats compared with 27 for Netanyahu’s Likud. But then-president Shimon Peres gave Netanyahu the first chance to form a government, reflecting his view that a centre-right coalition was most likely to succeed. Netanyahu cobbled together a coalition and took Israel down a more decisively conservative path over the next two decades.4.00amArab Israelis ride camels, donkeys to vote as turnout surgesBy Matthew KnottOne of the big stories of this election looks likely to be a voting surge by Arab Israelis (also known as Palestinian citizens of Israel).In previous elections, only half of these voters have participated but that figure is set to soar to 65 per cent, or even 70 per cent, today.A video posted on social media has shown supporters of the Islamist Ra’am party in the Bedouin city of Nahat in southern Israel heading to vote by riding on camels and donkeys.3.46amIn pictures: Israelis head to the pollsBy Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his ballot, alongside his wife Sara, at a polling station in Jerusalem.Yonatan Sindel/Pool AFP via APGadi Eisenkot (right), leader of the Yashar party, at a polling station in Herzliya, Israel.AP Photo/Ariel SchalitA woman waves an Israeli flag from a car window on election day.AP Photo/David GoldmanA border police officer casts her ballot at a school polling station.AP Photo/Ohad ZwigenbergA Netanyahu support shouts slogans at a market in Tel Aviv.AP Photo/Baz Ratner3.40amTel Aviv voters weigh in on the electionBy Matthew KnottAt Tel Aviv’s famous Carmel Market, stall owners and patrons were abuzz with chatter about whether they had voted and whom they had voted for.Bar, a student, said, she was desperate for an end to Netanyahu’s government.“We really want change,” she said, saying she favoured either Eisenkot or the secular right-wing Netanyahu critic Avigdor Lieberman.Stall-owner Dudi said: “I don’t know if Netanyahu, but I want the right side to rise.”Tiferet, visiting from the southern city of Ashkelon, near the Gaza border, said she had not decided who deserved her vote. Keeping Israel safe and animal welfare were her top priorities.“People here don’t understand what it was like on October 7,” she said. “We need someone much more extreme, much stronger.”3.29amWho is competing in these elections?By Matthew KnottAs is always the case in Israel, an eclectic array of parties is competing against each other. While some parties – like Netanyahu’s Likud – are mainstays of Israeli politics, it is common for parties to emerge, dissolve and merge with each other in this fluid ecosystem.As a way to understand the election, it helps to think of three blocs.The first is known as the pro-Netanyahu bloc. This grouping, which has been in power for the past four years, has been the most right-wing and religious government in Israel’s history. Likud is the biggest party in the bloc. It also comprises two ultra-orthodox parties (United Torah Judaism and Shas) and two ultra-nationalist parties led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have been sanctioned by Australia for inciting violence against Palestinians.The pro-Netanyahu bloc, which has been in power for the past four years, has been the most right-wing and religious government in Israel’s history.BloombergIsraelis cast their votes amid intensifying war chatterBy Matthew KnottGood morning and thanks for joining our live coverage of Israel’s election, which is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s almost two decades in power.Polls close at 10pm in Israel (7am AEDT) in the first national elections since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, a day that shook the country and plunged the Middle East into turmoil.By early afternoon and with hours remaining until polls closed, 45 per cent of eligible voters had cast a ballot, according to Israel’s central election committee, the highest since 1973.Netanyahu’s hold on power is at stake, with the prospect of a return to war with Iran dominating the final days of the campaign.1 of 1