Adnkronos (Adnkronos) –
Record turnout for Israel's elections today, Tuesday, October 27, at 12:00 PM. Polls opened at 7:00 AM local time (6:00 AM Italian time) and will close at 10:00 PM (9:00 PM Italian time). Over 7,3 million voters had cast their ballots. A 31,5% turnout was recorded at midday, according to the Election Commission, according to Israeli media reports, noting that this is the highest partial turnout since 1973.
At 10am it was at 16,68%, already up from 15,9% in 2022.
The vote is taking place in a climate of extreme tension, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaged in a difficult battle for political survival and the West Bank once again at the center of a violent escalation.
The country is going to the polls to renew the 120 seats in the Knesset, with a tight race between the Prime Minister's Likud and Yashar, the party led by former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, while the opposition is trying to build an alternative to the ruling right-wing and far-right coalition.
“I hope this is a true celebration of democracy.
No one can be allowed to ruin or undermine it,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said after casting his vote alongside his wife, Michal, at a polling station in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem for the Knesset election. “It is a great privilege to vote, and I am proud that Michal and I exercised the fundamental right of every citizen,” Herzog said, speaking to reporters. “Today we are all equal. It is our day to make our voices heard, to have an impact, and to vote,” the Israeli president added.
Netanyahu voted with his wife, Sara, at a polling station in Jerusalem in the Knesset elections, Israeli media reported. "Go vote!" Netanyahu urged voters.
The Israeli prime minister accused Arab-Israeli parties of attempting to "steal the election." While on his way to vote, he claimed that "three senior members" of a predominantly Arab party had been arrested in the south of the country in possession of envelopes containing cash. Election authorities, however, clarified that these individuals, detained near their homes, "had not yet reached the polling stations" and that an investigation is ongoing.
In a video filmed in the West Bank settlement of Peduel and released this morning, Netanyahu reiterated his campaign slogan that "the real issue in these elections is either the Right or Palestine." Netanyahu, boasting of having "fought against three American presidents" against the establishment of a Palestinian state, asserted that his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, will need the support of "Mansour Abbas and the Arab parties in his coalition, Yair Golan, who supports the creation of a Palestinian state, and Lieberman, who has declared that the Jordanian army must be allowed into the country."
Yashar President Gadi Eisenkot cast his vote in the Knesset elections at a polling station in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. "We are taking Israel on a new path. We will live up to your trust. I promise you," he declared, greeted by his supporters chanting, "Who's coming? The next prime minister!"
Meanwhile, police arrested a man armed with a knife who was making a threatening move toward Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats, while he was rallying voters in Tel Aviv. The announcement was made by the leader of Israel's main left-wing party, which is part of the coalition challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset elections. "Intimidation and violence will not stop us," Golan said in a statement, attributing the incident to Netanyahu's "poison machine," which harshly attacked the left during the election campaign.
The crisis in Hebron, where the Israeli army launched a large-scale military operation following an attack on a checkpoint that killed two soldiers, has erupted in the final phase of the election campaign. Tel Aviv's response has been brutal: closing Hebron and nearby Halhul, blocking the entire West Bank, and carrying out searches, arrests, and demolitions in the neighborhoods from which the attackers originated. The army claims it wants to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and identify weapons and militants, but the Palestinian authorities denounce collective punishment against the civilian population. The new offensive comes amid a context already marked by the expansion of Israeli settlements and increased settler attacks against Palestinians, particularly during the olive harvest.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces, Border Police, and the Shin Bet launched an operation overnight in the Nablus area "to counter terrorism, as part of a large-scale operation to be carried out in the region in the coming days." The operation includes the destruction of monuments inciting terrorism, the arrest of individuals wanted for arms trafficking and terrorism, the interrogation of suspects, and the search of buildings for information indicating the presence of weapons. According to Palestinian sources, the IDF has begun destroying the "Martyrs'" monument in the village of Rujeib, east of Nablus, which commemorates the names of terrorists.
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