Eisenkot says Netanyahu's bid to discredit election has failed

Netanyahu's effort to cast doubt on Israel's parliamentary election results has failed, Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot said on Sunday, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.

Writing on X, Eisenkot called the attempt "despicable and malicious" and said only a side that knows it has lost would wage such a campaign.

Netanyahu and his Likud party have alleged Qatari interference through funding meant to raise turnout among Arab voters, a claim Qatar rejected on Thursday as a "new disinformation campaign."

Likud has said it holds recordings and other material documenting bribes, including cash and fuel vouchers offered for votes, which it called "election theft."

The party has not publicly presented evidence of Qatari interference or widespread electoral fraud.

Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg said voting had proceeded properly and that the results reflected the electorate's will.

Sohlberg said potential irregularities were being examined and would not undermine the integrity of the election, even if substantiated.

"The people are sovereign, and they have spoken," Eisenkot said, adding that the government had lost its majority.

With all votes counted, Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 48 for the opposition camp led by Eisenkot and 19 for Arab parties.

Neither main bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a governing majority, and final turnout was 77.9 percent, the highest since 1999, the elections committee said.

The results leave Israel in a political impasse, with government formation depending on agreements between blocs and divisions among opposition parties over relying on Arab parties' support.

The official results are due to be submitted to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, ahead of consultations on which lawmaker to task with forming a government.