Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel's general election, with partial results putting him ahead of main rival Benny Gantz.

With 90% of votes counted, his Likud party and its right-wing allies were on course to win 59 seats, Israeli media reported. However, that would leave them two short of a majority.

Mr Netanyahu nevertheless declared the outcome "the biggest win of my life".

Monday's election was Israel's third in less than a year.

Neither of the two main party leaders was able to command a majority in the 120-seat parliament following the last two rounds.
Mr Netanyahu, 70, is Israel's longest-serving prime minister. He is seeking a record fifth term, having been in office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009.

The election took place two weeks before Mr Netanyahu is due in court to face corruption charges, which he denies.

The opposition Blue and White alliance failed to weaponise his upcoming trial on corruption charges.

Likud and its right-wing allies need to muster 61 parliamentary seats for Mr Netanyahu to form a majority government.

Projections suggest his right-wing bloc will need defections from other parties - quite possible in Israel's fluid party system - to pass the all-important threshold.

But Mr Netanyahu will take a majority of one as a mandate for his agenda.

That includes the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank that Palestinians want for a future state, as laid out in Donald Trump's so-called "deal of the century".

Mr Netanyahu hailed a "huge victory". But the results show that Israel remains deeply divided about the future and his controversial, populist leadership.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/israel-election-2020-latest-results

What could this mean for Palestinians?


The secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Saeb Erekat, tweeted after the exit polls were published that it was "obvious that settlement, occupation and apartheid have won the Israeli elections".

Mr Netanyahu has promised to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank
During the campaign, Mr Netanyahu vowed to swiftly annex Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank if he won a fifth term.

Such a move was made more possible after US President Donald Trump released his Middle East peace plan in January. Mr Trump said the US would "recognise Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel", including parts of the West Bank - a departure from past US positions.

The Palestinians, who have rejected Mr Trump's plan as one-sided, insist that all the settlements must be removed if there is to be final peace deal.

More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. The US has also declared it no longer sees the settlements as illegal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51709699

I thought Palestinian Arabs and Muslims said they had the number to upset the election?