Israel election: 88.6% ballots counted, Netanyahu near certain to be next Prime Minister
Jerusalem (PTI): With nearly 90 per cent of ballots counted in the Israeli general elections, veteran politician Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to be the prime minister once again, according to official data.
Netanyahu's party Likud and its far-right allies are projected to receive a clear majority with 65 seats in the 120-member Knesset or Parliament.
Likud leader Netanyahu, 73, will with near certainty be Israel's next prime minister after approximately 90 per cent of the votes counted, the Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted the Central Election Committee's data.
The Netanyahu coalition will consist of 65 MKs (Members of the Israeli parliament), while the Lapid bloc will consist of 50 and Hadash-Ta'al five.
The results after 88.6 per cent of the vote were: Likud 32, Yesh Atid 24, Religious Zionism Party (RZP) 14, National Unity 12, Shas 11, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) eight, Yisrael Beytenu five, Ra'am five, Hadash-Ta'al five and Labor four, the report said on Wednesday.
The Times of Israel newspaper reported that a Netanyahu-led government would see a sharp drop in women in the coalition. Current results project 9 female MKs in parties that back the former prime minister, with none among the ultra-Orthodox factions.
Based on these results, the likely Netanyahu-led coalition will have nine female MKs six in his Likud party and three from the far-right Religious Zionism, though the figure could end up rising through ministerial appointments.
The exit polls projected that pro-Netanyahu parties may win up to 65 seats. The alliance comprised Netanyahu's Likud party, far-right religious Zionism/Jewish Power, ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism.
The outcome would mark a stunning comeback for Netanyahu, who is currently on trial in three corruption cases, after a short stint in opposition.
Israelis voted on Tuesday for an unprecedented fifth time in four years to break the political impasse that has paralysed the country.
Israel has been locked in an unprecedented period of political stalemate since 2019, when Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving leader was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
About 6.78 million Israeli citizens were eligible to elect their 25th Knesset. Some 210,720 new voters were able to vote for the first time, accounting for about four to five seats, adding an interesting dimension to the polls.
For many years, Netanyahu appeared to be politically invincible. But he met with a rude jolt after being ousted by an unprecedented coalition of parties whose only common goal was to see him out.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1949, Netanyahu holds the record of being the longest-serving Prime Minister in the country's history. Having served in the position earlier between 1996 and 1999, Netanyahu in 2020 surpassed the record held by one of the Jewish state's founding leaders, David Ben-Gurion.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
