Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc finished the count of Israel's election with 53 seats, Gadi Eisenkot's with 48 and the two Arab lists with 19, the most they have ever held. Nobody has the 61 a government needs, and for now, Netanyahu remains the caretaker Prime Minister.

The only majority possible in the new Knesset is the 67 that Eisenkot's parties and the Arab lists make together, and every leader on Eisenkot's side swore before the vote that he would never use it.

The 10pm exit polls put Eisenkot's bloc ahead by two or three seats, Eisenkot claimed "complete victory", Yair Lapid told the crowd "we are the majority", and Netanyahu complained that voters had been discouraged by propaganda, despite the high turnout.

By 1am the updated polls had the blocs level or Netanyahu ahead, and he came out to claim a "great majority" among what he called the Zionist public, with the war criminal seemingly forgetting his cries of foul play just hours earlier. The real count settled it in his favour by the afternoon: Likud the largest party on 26, Yashar second on 21, Netanyahu's bloc five seats clear, and still eight short. The shekel fell and the Tel Aviv exchange slumped on the arithmetic.