Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc is trailing rival Gadi Eisenkot's bloc in three of four parliamentary election exit polls, with neither securing a projected majority.
Projections by Channels 12 and 13 and Israel's public broadcaster on Tuesday put Eisenkot's bloc ahead of Netanyahu's, while Channel 14 projected a lead for Netanyahu's bloc.
A Channel 13 exit poll projected 53 seats for Eisenkot's bloc, 50 for Netanyahu's bloc and 17 for Arab parties in the 120-seat Knesset.
Israel's public broadcaster projected the same distribution, giving Eisenkot's bloc 53 seats, Netanyahu's bloc 50 and Arab parties 17.
Channel 12 projected 52 seats for Eisenkot's bloc, 50 for Netanyahu's bloc and 18 for Arab parties.
Channel 14, meanwhile, projected 60 seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 43 for Eisenkot's bloc and 17 for Arab parties.
None of the projections gave either bloc the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.
Opposition bloc celebrates exit poll results
Responding to the projections, Yashar party Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, a rival of Netanyahu, said the initial results indicated a "complete lack of trust in Netanyahu."
"If these are the final results, this is a victory for the Zionist-statist majority in Israel," Eisenkot said.
He pledged to "act immediately to implement the will of the people," replace Netanyahu's government and establish what he called a "Zionist mobilisation government" as soon as possible.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also claimed Netanyahu's bloc had suffered a "severe defeat."
"Don't let them confuse you: the Netanyahu bloc suffered a severe defeat. This is a complete collapse and the public told them to go home," Lapid said.
Democrats party leader Yair Golan said that "the public has spoken, it fired Netanyahu's government."
"We have received a historic opportunity to form a real change government in Israel and we do not intend to give it up," he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the opposition’s celebrations "premature”.
"Likud is the largest party in Israel. It is always good to learn something from the past," he said in a social media post.
Saar slammed "pronouncements of biased commentators" following the exit polls.
Meanwhile, the assistant of Israel’s extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called Israelis "stupid".
"Obviously I’m disappointed, the people of Israel are stupid", Ushar Gabai told media.
Sweeping gains for Arab parties
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will decide whom to task with forming a government after the official election results are announced, his office said, according to Israeli media.
Polling stations closed at 10 pm local time (2000GMT), and vote counting began.
The exit poll projections are not official election results.
The Central Elections Committee earlier reported voter turnout of 74.3% as of 8 pm local time (1800GMT).
According to the committee, 5,449,277 people had cast their ballots out of 7,331,981 eligible voters.
Israeli Arab parties made sweeping gains, likely giving them a critical role in the next parliament, the early exit polls showed.
Exit polls from the main Israeli television channels showed the two Arab lists winning 17 or 18 seats in the 120-member parliament between them, up from 10 in the last election in 2022.
Commenting on exit polls, Arab Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said his party "could win 10 seats or more" in parliament.
With no single party winning the majority, Israeli politicians will embark on potentially weeks of high-stakes negotiations on cobbling together a coalition.
