BREAKING – ISRAEL ELECTION EXIT POLLS: Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party has emerged as the largest party in three initial exit polls, with Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party in second place. 

i24NEWS: Likud 27 seats, Eisenkot 20. 

Channel 13: Likud 25 seats, Eisenkot 23. 

Channel 12: Likud 24 seats, Eisenkot 22.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud has come out as the largest party in the first exit polls of Israel's election, with Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar in second place. The i24NEWS poll gives Likud 27 seats to Yashar's 20, while Channel 13 has it at 25 to 23 and Channel 12 at 24 to 22. Kan's exit poll also had Likud ahead, at 25 seats to 21. The result flips weeks of pre-election surveys that mostly showed Eisenkot's party in front, and the gap between the two parties ranges from two seats in the closest polls to seven in the widest.

But finishing first does not decide who governs, because a bloc needs 61 of the Knesset's 120 seats to form a government. Reports on the exit polls say neither camp has a clear path to a majority, and Channel 12's projection reportedly shows Netanyahu's bloc dropping to around 50 seats from 68 in the last Knesset. It also puts the Eisenkot-led bloc at 52 seats, with Arab parties winning a record number of seats and possibly holding the balance. Exit polls are early estimates and can shift as real votes are counted, so the final numbers may look different. For now, the big questions are who can build a coalition, how small parties near the threshold fare, and whether Israel is heading for weeks of tense negotiations.