Israeli election deadlocked, exit polls show

Israel's wartime election was deadlocked, exit polls showed, with Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc running neck and neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp, leaving neither side with a clear path to power. The projections pointed to a setback for Netanyahu's coalition, though the deadlock could allow Israel's longest-serving prime minister to remain in power as caretaker during coalition negotiations. "The Israeli public has voted against Netanyahu's service as Israel's prime minister... a worthy leader would have accepted the people's non-confidence and announced today his retirement from politics," Eisenkot told cheering supporters in Tel Aviv. Turnout was 77.7 percent, Israel's Central Elections Committee said, the highest in more than two decades and around 7 percentage points higher than in the previous election in 2022. Kan 11 and Channel 13 showed the two blocs level, while Channel 12 gave Eisenkot a narrow edge over Netanyahu's Likud-led camp. None gave either side the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Far-right religious parties led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich were projected to take a combined 13 seats within Netanyahu's bloc. Arab parties outside the two main blocs could hold the balance of power. But Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a former military chief,...