The official vote count is starting to come through.

So far 2,670 votes have been tallied, according to Israel's Central Elections Committee. That represents almost 0.1% of the total number of votes.

Since the polling stations closed at 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT), reporting has relied on exit poll data – which is not an official count, but rather surveys of voters exiting polling stations conducted by media companies.

While the official tally so far is not a meaningful sample size, it does show the electoral body is starting to report as expected.

The turnout for this year's Israeli general election was 77.7% as of 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) when polls closed, the country's Central Election Committee has said.

The figure represents 5,695,682 individuals having cast their vote by this time, with the committee saying it is the highest percentage recorded at that time since 1999.

Netanyahu's party being the largest in the Israeli exit polls is a "meaningless consolation prize" compared to the prediction of Gadi Eisenkot's bloc being the biggest group, a leading Israeli commentator has said.

"He's had incredible comebacks before, but for the Netanyahu coalition - this is a very, very bad night," Anshel Pfeffer, the Economist's Israel correspondent, tells BBC News.

When asked if the bloc led by Eisenkot has the best chance of forming a governing coalition according to the exit polls, he responds by saying Netanyahu currently has the least.

Pfeffer says he feels the Likud leader could only make a comeback if he manages to convince centrist parties to join him in a unity government, adding: "I'm not going to put that past him."

Image source, Reuters

The leader of Israel's left-leaning Democrats party has said it is willing to "work with all our partners" and "bridge differences" to form a new government for the country.

Speaking in a post on X following the exit polls, Yair Golan says "the public has spoken" and "ousted the Netanyahu government", adding this is a "historic opportunity to establish a true government of change".

Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says in a separate post that Netanyahu's bloc has suffered a crushing defeat.

For context: Official results will start being released from midnight local time (22:00 GMT), but counting could take days.

Image source, Reuters

Gadi Eisenkot is a former head of the Israel Defense Forces, now leading the centrist Yashar party. He has built his campaign on calls for accountability over the security failures that led to 7 October.

His popularity stems partly from his military credentials and his status as a relative political newcomer, having formed his party only last year.

He lost his son, a soldier, in the first months of the Gaza war, and served in Israel's war cabinet under Benjamin Netanyahu until resigning in 2024 over the PM's handling of the conflict.

On Gaza, Eisenkot does not differ hugely from Netanyahu. He recently pledged to end Hamas rule in the territory within 18 months, through a US-led peace plan or, if necessary, military means.

He supports Israeli settlements in general, but opposes proceeding with the controversial E1 settlement project which would, in effect, split the West Bank in two.

Arab-majority parties could win record number of seatspublished at 22:08 GMT 27 October

22:08 GMT 27 October

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Reports suggest that a high turnout among Israeli Arab voters has been translated into electoral success, with the two Arab-majority parties (The United Arab List - or Ra’am - and The Joint List, an alliance of three smaller parties) projected to win as many as 19 seats between them (which would be a record).

The main parties in Israel have traditionally been extremely reluctant to include Arab parties in their coalitions, but with the gap between the two main electoral blocs projected to be narrow, the Arab-majority parties will be hard for Eisenkot and Netanyahu to ignore.

In past Israeli elections, Arab turnout has generally been lower than Jewish turnout. But this time, the desire to see the back of Netanyahu seems to have driven large numbers of Arabs to the polls. Netanyahu, clearly aware of this danger, spent much of election day warning of an effort by Arab voters to "steal the election".

Until now, Eisenkot has said the Arab parties do not meet his conditions for joining a coalition. The mathematics of the new Knesset may force him to reconsider, either by relying on their informal support in the event of a minority government or by bringing in Ra’am as a formal coalition partner.

After the 2021 elections, Ra’am was part of a coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. It lasted a year before collapsing.

Image source, Reuters

Gideon Saar, a Netanyahu ally who currently serves as foreign minister, says celebrations on the left of Israeli politics are "premature".

He says the exit polls clearly show Netanyahu's Likud is the largest party.

As we've been reporting, while the exit polls show Likud on course to be the largest party, they show the anti-Netanyahu bloc led by Eisenkot set to be the largest group.

Weeks or months of protracted talks may lie aheadpublished at 21:31 GMT 27 October

21:31 GMT 27 October

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Eisenkot's watch party in Tel Aviv

Image source, Getty Images

The positive news for Israelis who want to oust Netanyahu is that these projected results suggest it will be very hard for him to form a government.

The bad news is that his key challenger, Eisenkot, will also struggle.

It is the Arab parties who may hold the key to breaking the political deadlock. They’re projected to defy expectations to win a record 17 or 18 seats, in part driven by a strong turnout from Israel’s Arab population, many of whom refer to themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.

What lies ahead is likely to be weeks or months of protracted negotiations between the parties, with numerous options on the table - but none of them easy.

Could Eisenkot form a minority government propped up by the Arab parties? Could Netanyahu persuade Eisenkot to break his election promises and form a unity government of Israel’s centrist and right-wing parties? Could Netanyahu lure one of the parties from Eisenkot’s bloc to break away and join him - or vice versa?

These are all options being discussed by Israeli commentators.

For a government to be formed, it seems likely someone will have to break their election promises.

Israeli exit polls suggest Gadi Eisenkot's bloc has won the largest number of seats but has fallen short of a majority.

They also suggest Netanyahu's Likud party is set to be the biggest single party in the Israeli parliament.

Official results will start being released from midnight local time (22:00 GMT), but counting could take days.

Image source, Reuters

Eisenkot says initial exit poll results "indicate a complete vote of no confidence in Netanyahu" and his government.

He says that if the exit polls are correct, he will "act immediately to fulfil the will of the people, replace the Netanyahu government" as soon as possible.

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent at the Likud watch party in Jerusalem

At the Likud watch party in Jerusalem, the room is full of journalists - but there are only a few supporters.

The large screen is playing videos with Benjamin Netanyahu and clips with words of support from US President Donald Trump.

So far, there has been no official reaction following the announcement of the exit polls.

Likud, according to them, is likely to be the largest party in the Knesset although the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as the largest group but well short of a majority.

After the results are confirmed, President Isaac Herzog will be consulting parties after to invite the leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent reporting from Eisenkot's watch party in Tel Aviv

There were a lot of cheers as the numbers were read out here. But, like everybody, they are just trying to absorb what that means in the long run.

But the fact that some of their numbers were ahead, it seems they are taking that positively at the moment.

Remember, these are just the exit polls and sometimes these exit polls are incorrect, there are one or two outliers as we have seen.

This is just the start of a process.

I think people here are wise and experience to these elections, knowing that what happens here at the immediate phase of these exit polls doesn't always result in the outcome that they might want at the end of the day.

But at the moment here, the mood is quite an optimistic one.

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Eisenkot's watch party in Tel Aviv

Here at Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party HQ in Tel Aviv, music is blasting and some of his supporters were dancing, singing and waving Israeli flags as the exit polls were just shown on the big screen.

But no party representatives have yet taken to the stage - and the hall is still half-empty, with lots of floor space in front of the TV crews and journalists from around the world who are here to take in the result.

Eisenkot’s so-called change bloc is projected to be larger than Netanyahu’s bloc, but still well short of a majority.

It is the Arab parties who are the story of the night. They are projected to get around 17 or 18 seats - a record for them.

The main Israeli broadcast exit polls indicate that challenger Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc has emerged as the largest group in Israel’s election, just ahead of the ruling coalition but well short of a majority.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud is set to be the biggest single party in the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset.

Arab Israeli parties have emerged with a record number of seats.

Official results will start being published from 22:00 GMT, but an estimated 600,000 absentee ballots - almost all from the military - and around 10% of the total votes, won’t be fully counted until Thursday.

Once all the results are in, and following consultations with all the political factions, Israel’s president then invites the party leader whom he believes has the best chance of success to form a governing coalition.

A process that can take many weeks.

Polls have now closed in Israel's general election.

Stick with us - we will bring you updates and more as exit polls are expected to be released imminently.

Haaretz is reporting that the first batch of official election results will be released at around 01:00 local time (23:00 GMT), according to the Central Elections Committee.

But, Haaretz adds, the committee warns that vote counting could continue into Friday as there are a large number of absentee ballots.

As of 20:00 in Israel, (18:00 GMT), the national voter turnout stood at 74.3%, according to Israel's Central Elections Committee.

This represents a total of 5,449,277 voters having cast their ballots, it says in a statement, adding turnout was 66.3% at the same time in the previous elections in 2022.

Record voter turnout the story of the day so farpublished at 19:29 GMT 27 October

19:29 GMT 27 October

Tom Bennett
Eisenkot's Yashar Party HQ

Image source, Getty Images

The story of election day so far has been the turnout - especially in some Arab-majority cities - which has reached record levels at points throughout the day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of the day posting on social media that high Arab turnout is an "emergency" and a "matter of life or death" for the Israeli right.

If the Arab vote were to hold it could shrink both the main Jewish blocs - Netanyahu’s and Eisenkot’s - and knock out some of the smaller parties that hoped to pass the electoral threshold of 3.25%.

This would make it very difficult for anyone to form a government without the help or participation of at least one of the Arab party blocs - the United Arab List and the Joint List.

Most of the leading Jewish parties have ruled out working with them, meaning concessions, deals and U-turns may be needed to breach any impasse.

But it's important to reiterate - until results roll in, it's all speculation.

Raffi Berg
Middle East digital editor

Image source, EPA

If neither current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition wins a majority of seats, Netanyahu will stay on as caretaker PM as attempts are made to form a government.

President Isaac Herzog will nominate the party leader whom he thinks stands the best chance of being able to do this.

This is a process which can take several months. If no candidate can form a government capable of winning the confidence of parliament, fresh elections will be called, and the process repeated.

In theory, this means Netanyahu could continue as caretaker prime minister for months and even years, with most of his powers.

This has actually previously happened: Netanyahu himself holds the record for length of time serving as a caretaker prime minister, for a year and a half between December 2018 and May 2020.

In that period, three indecisive elections were held, until Netanyahu finally formed a unity government with his main political rival.

The Central Elections Committee has decided not to extend voting hours in the Israeli elections.

In a statement, the committee says it met this evening and decided "the current circumstances do not justify an extension".

It adds the high turnout "reflects strong public engagement in the democratic process" and "no need to extend voting hours was identified".

Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and several other right wing parties had asked for voting to be extended beyond 22:00 (20:00 GMT).

It came after the Israeli prime minister posted on social media about a reportedly high turnout among Arab voters.

Netanyahu labelled it an "emergency" and a "matter of life or death" for the Israeli right, and called on his supporters to get out and vote.