Netanyahu’s bloc falls to 53 seats as Israel counts 85.6 percent of ballots

Parties seeking to remove Benjamin Netanyahu hold a combined 67 seats in the latest projections, leaving the prime minister’s bloc eight seats short of a parliamentary majority. With officials having counted 85.6 percent of ballots, Netanyahu's Likud party leads with 26 seats, followed by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar on 21. Together and the Arab-led Joint List have 12 each, while the United Arab List has gained a seat, taking its total to seven. At midnight, election officials will begin counting about 500,000 ballots from soldiers and other voters who cast their votes away from their registered polling stations.