No clear winner in Israeli election, signaling more deadlock

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's supporters wave Likud party flags after first exit poll results for the Israeli elections at his party's headquarters in Jerusalem. (AP)
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Updated 24 March 2021
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No clear winner in Israeli election, signaling more deadlock

  • Netanyahu's political survival appeared to rest with Naftali Bennett, leader of the far-right Yamina party
  • Long-serving prime minister campaigned on success of vaccination drive

JERUSALEM: Israeli parliamentary elections on Tuesday resulted in a virtual deadlock for a fourth time in the past two years, exit polls indicated, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an uncertain future and the country facing the prospect of continued political gridlock.
The exit polls on Israel’s three main TV stations indicated that both Netanyahu and his religious and nationalist allies, along with a group of anti-Netanyahu parties, both fell short of the parliamentary majority required to form a new government. That raised the possibility of an unprecedented fifth consecutive election later this year.
The election was seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s polarizing leadership style, and the initial results showed that the country remains as deeply divided as ever, with an array of small sectarian parties dominating the parliament.
The results also signaled a continuing shift of the Israeli electorate toward the right wing, which supports West Bank settlements and opposes concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians. That trend was highlighted by the strong showing of an ultranationalist anti-Arab religious party.
After three previous inconclusive elections, Netanyahu had been hoping for a decisive victory that would allow him to form a government with his traditional ultra-Orthodox and hard-line nationalist allies and seek immunity from corruption charges.
In an address to supporters early Wednesday, a subdued Netanyahu boasted of a “great achievement” but stopped short of declaring victory. Instead, he appeared to reach out to his opponents and called for formation of a “stable government” that would avoid another election.
“We must not under any circumstances drag the state of Israel to new elections, to a fifth election,” he said. “We must form a stable government now.”
By early Wednesday, updated exit polls on two channels were forecasting an evenly divided parliament. The third station gave Netanyahu’s opponents a one-seat advantage.
Exit polls have often been imprecise in the past, meaning the final results, expected in the coming days, could still shift the balance of power. If the final results are in line with the exit polls, there is no guarantee that Netanyahu or his opponents will succeed in putting together a coalition.
“All three options are on the table: a Netanyahu-led government, a change coalition that will leave Netanyahu in the opposition, and an interim government leading to a fifth election,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute.
Several right-wing parties have vowed never to sit in a government with Netanyahu. And Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu ally turned harsh critic, refused to endorse either side during the campaign.
Bennett shares Netanyahu’s hard-line nationalist ideology and would seem to be more likely to ultimately join the prime minister. But Bennett has not ruled out joining forces with Netanyahu’s opponents.
In a speech to his supporters, Bennett declined to take sides. He vowed to promote right-wing values but also took several veiled swipes at the prime minister’s leadership style.
“Now is the time for healing,” he said. “The norms of the past will no longer be acceptable.” He said he would move the country “from leadership that is interested in itself to a professional leadership that cares.”
Bennett has indicated he will drive a hard bargain with Netanyahu, demanding senior Cabinet ministries and perhaps even a power-sharing arrangement that includes a stint as prime minister.
In addition, their partners would also include a pair of ultra-Orthodox religious parties and the “Religious Zionists,” a party whose leaders are openly racist and homophobic. One of its leaders, Itamir Ben-Gvir, is a disciple of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the US for its anti-Arab racism before Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990.
Relying on the party could be deeply embarrassing for Netanyahu on the international stage, particularly as he tries to court the new Biden administration.
The election campaign was largely devoid of substance and was seen instead as a referendum on Netanyahu’s divisive rule.
During the campaign, Netanyahu emphasized Israel’s highly successful coronavirus vaccination campaign. He moved aggressively to secure enough vaccines for Israel’s 9.3 million people, and in three months the country has inoculated some 80% of its adult population. That has enabled the government to open restaurants, stores and the airport just in time for election day.
He also tried to portray himself as a global statesman, pointing to the four diplomatic accords he reached with Arab countries last year. Those agreements were brokered by his close ally, then-President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu’s opponents say the prime minister bungled many other aspects of the pandemic, particularly by allowing his ultra-Orthodox allies to ignore lockdown rules and fuel a high infection rate for much of the year.
Over 6,000 Israelis have died from COVID-19, and the economy continues to struggle with double-digit unemployment.
They also point to Netanyahu’s corruption trial, saying someone who is under indictment for serious crimes is not fit to lead the country. Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals that he dismisses as a witch hunt by a hostile media and legal system.
Even Netanyahu’s reputation as a statesman has suffered in recent days. The United Arab Emirates, the most important of the four Arab nations to establish official diplomatic ties with Israel, last week made clear that it did not want to be used as part of Netanyahu’s re-election bid after he was forced to call off a visit to the country. The Biden administration also has kept its distance, a contrast to the support he received in past elections from Trump.
Netanyahu’s Likud party was projected to emerge as the largest individual party, with just over 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, followed by the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid, with some 17 seats.
The remainder of the parliament would be divided between some 10 other small parties. These range from an Arab party to left-wing secular parties to a pair of secular, right-wing parties that oppose Netanyahu.
Altogether, Netanyahu and his allies were projected to control 53 to 54 seats, while his opponents are expected to control some 60 or 61, with Bennett controlling the remainder.
Netanyahu’s opponents included a diverse array of parties that had little in common beyond their shared animosity toward him. Even if his opponents end up controlling a majority of seats, it will be difficult for them to bridge their ideological differences on such lightning rod issues as Palestinian statehood and the role of religion in the country.
They also were hurt by the disintegration of the main Arab party in parliament. A renegade member ran separately but appeared not to win enough seats to enter parliament, robbing the alliance of key votes.
Tuesday’s election was sparked by the disintegration of an emergency government formed last May between Netanyahu and his chief rival at the time. The alliance was plagued by infighting, and elections were forced after they failed to agree on a budget in December.
Netanyahu’s opponents have accused him of fomenting deadlock in hopes of bringing about a friendlier parliament that will grant him immunity from prosecution.
After the results come in, attention will turn to the country’s figurehead president, Reuven Rivlin.
He will hold a series of meetings with party leaders and then choose the one he believes has the best chance of forming a government as his prime minister-designate. That could set off weeks of horse-trading.
Voting in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Rivlin said the deadlock has had a price.
“Four elections in two years erode public trust in the democratic process,” he said, even as he urged Israelis to vote again. “There is no other way.”

Minority report: The Jews of Lebanon
Descendants of the country's dwindling community recall listening to their parents' memories of a lost 'paradise'

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Drone strikes spark civilian exodus from army-controlled Sudan aid hub

Updated 2 sec ago
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Drone strikes spark civilian exodus from army-controlled Sudan aid hub

PORT SUDAN: Paramilitary drones struck army-held areas of eastern and southern Sudan for a fifth straight day Thursday, army sources said, prompting an exodus of civilians from Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government.
Attacks targeted the country’s main naval base outside Port Sudan, as well as fuel depots in the southern city of Kosti, two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The militia launched another drone attack on the Flamingo Naval Base north of Port Sudan,” one source told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023.
Explosions were heard across the city, an AFP correspondent reported.
Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast had been regarded as a safe haven, hosting United Nations offices and hundreds of thousands of displaced people, until drone strikes blamed on the RSF began on Sunday.
The port city is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan, and UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Nearly 1,100 kilometers (some 680 miles) to the southwest, in the army-controlled city of Kosti in White Nile state, RSF drones struck fuel depots, setting off massive fires, a military source said.
“The militia targeted the fuel depots that supply the state with three drones, causing fires to break out,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
More than two years of war have killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million, according to UN figures.


RSF drone strikes on Port Sudan this week hit key facilities including the country’s last functioning international airport, its largest working fuel depot and the city’s main power station.
An army source said air defenses had shot down 15 drones over the city overnight.
At Port Sudan’s bustling main bus station, civilians were scrambling to leave.
“You can’t get a ticket without booking over a day in advance now, all the buses are booked,” said bus company employee Mahmoud Hussein.
Among those fleeing was Haidar Ibrahim, preparing to travel south with his family.
“The smoke is everywhere and my wife suffers from asthma,” he told AFP. “We have no choice but to leave.”
Many of those who had sought refuge in Port Sudan have been displaced multiple times before, fleeing each time the front line closed in.
Transport costs have nearly doubled as a result of fuel shortages triggered by the attacks.
“Now, we have to buy fuel on the black market,” said tuk-tuk driver Abdel-Meguid Babiker.
On Wednesday evening, drones were also seen over the army-held eastern city of Kassala and northern city of Merowe, prompting anti-aircraft fire.
Eight-country east African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), called the attacks on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan “unacceptable” and demanded an “immediate end.”
“Any assault on this critical hub further compounds human suffering and impedes the delivery of urgently needed assistance,” IGAD executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said in a statement.
The RSF has not commented on the drone strikes, which have hit targets hundreds of kilometers away from their closest known positions on the outskirts of greater Khartoum.
The paramilitaries have ramped up their drone campaign since losing control of nearly all of greater Khartoum to the army in March.
On Tuesday, the army-backed government severed ties with the United Arab Emirates, accusing it of supplying the RSF with advanced weapons systems.
The UAE denied the allegation, adding that the internationally recognized administration “does not represent the legitimate government of Sudan.”
The paramilitaries and their allies have moved to establish a rival administration in areas under their control.
Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, despite reports from UN experts, US politicians and international organizations.
The war has effectively split the country in two, with the army holding the north, east and center, and the RSF in control of most of Darfur and parts of the south.

Lebanon state media say ‘series’ of Israeli strikes hit south

Updated 24 min 42 sec ago
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Lebanon state media say ‘series’ of Israeli strikes hit south

  • Israeli strikes targeted the Nabatiyeh district around 12 kilometers from the border

BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said Israel conducted air strikes on the south on Thursday, the latest in a string of raids despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said “a series of Israeli strikes” targeted the Nabatiyeh district around 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the border, while local media outlets said the raids hit mountainous regions away from residential areas.


Israel closes 6 UN schools for Palestinians in east Jerusalem

Updated 14 sec ago
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Israel closes 6 UN schools for Palestinians in east Jerusalem

  • 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced

JERUSALEM: Israel permanently closed six UN schools in east Jerusalem on Thursday, forcing Palestinian students to leave early and throwing the education of more than 800 others into question.
Last month, heavily armed Israeli police and Education Ministry officials ordered six schools in east Jerusalem to close within 30 days, which ended on Wednesday. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, runs the six schools. UNRWA also runs schools in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which continue to operate.
The closure orders come after Israel banned UNRWA from operating on its soil earlier this year, the culmination of a long campaign against the agency that intensified following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. Israel claims that UNRWA schools teach antisemitic content and anti-Israel sentiment, which UNRWA denies.
UNRWA is the main provider of education and health care to Palestinian refugees across east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its unified capital.
The Israeli Ministry of Education says it will place the students into other Jerusalem schools. But parents, teachers and administrators caution that closing the main schools in east Jerusalem will force their children to go through crowded and dangerous checkpoints daily, and some do not have the correct permits to pass through.
In a previous statement to The Associated Press, the Ministry of Education said it was closing the schools because they were operating without a license. UNRWA administrators pledged to keep the schools open for as long as possible.


Fuel, aid shortages cripple Gaza emergency services and relief efforts amid Israeli blockade

Updated 47 min 30 sec ago
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Fuel, aid shortages cripple Gaza emergency services and relief efforts amid Israeli blockade

  • Gaza’s civil defense agency said that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating
  • World Central Kitchen halted operations after running out of food, having served 133,000 meals and baked 80,000 loaves daily in recent weeks

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis deepened Thursday as fuel shortages forced most civil defense vehicles off the roads and a major aid group shut down its soup kitchens amid Israel’s continued blockade on humanitarian supplies.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said Thursday that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating, more than two months into an Israeli aid blockade.
“Seventy-five percent of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel,” the agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding that its first responders were also facing a “severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza forced a leading aid group on Thursday to shut its community soup kitchens, faced empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave.
World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost no food left in Gaza for the organization to cook.
The lack of food is threatening Gaza’s population, already battered by 19 months of war. In April, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.
Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month. Aid agencies say a shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation and supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out.
Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations in the territory on March 18. It said both steps aim to pressure the militant Hamas group to release hostages the extremists still hold. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” that endangers the entire population and a potential war crime.
Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands for their daily meal, but many are shutting down due to lack of supplies.
At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women and children fighting to get meager rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to lack of fuel.
Since the start of the war, World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread. The organization also said on Thursday there was no flour left in their mobile bakery.
“Our trucks— loaded with food and supplies— are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza,” said José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.
Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80 percent increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported.
Nearly half the 200 nutrition centers around Gaza have shut down because of displacement and bombardment.
World Central Kitchen had previously suspended operations in April of last year after seven aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes on their convoy, before resuming weeks later.


Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others

Updated 08 May 2025
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Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others

  • The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on

JERUSALEM: Three Israeli hostages in Gaza previously thought to be living may be dead, leaving 21 definitely believed to be alive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, confirming comments made by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at an event at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said 24 hostages were alive a week ago but the figure was now 21. He did not cite a source or provide further details.
Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, had said in a post on X that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead — figures unchanged since before Trump spoke.
Netanyahu’s comments appeared to confirm the figure cited by Trump.
“We know for certain that 21 are alive — that’s not in dispute. There are three others where, unfortunately, it’s uncertain whether they’re alive,” Netanyahu said in filmed remarks posted on social media.
A spokesperson for a group representing hostage families said: “The headquarters again calls on the prime minister to stop the war until the return of the last abductee. This is the most urgent and important national task.”
The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on. A total of 251 people were taken hostage during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far were released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
Since the abductions, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza that has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
The government says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages. This week it has announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza, causing hostage families to fear this will further endanger their loved ones.