A sense of pessimism is prevailing among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as they follow the results of the Israeli elections, amid fears over their potential impact on the future of the territory. There are no clear indications that the elections will bring a fundamental change in Israeli policies toward Palestinians, regardless of which political camp ultimately wins the contest.
اضافة اعلان
Cairo News correspondent in Gaza, Bashir Jabr, said residents are following the elections with considerable pessimism, particularly in light of the widespread destruction and deterioration in humanitarian, health and educational conditions caused by the war launched by Benjamin Netanyahu. Palestinians continue to suffer the consequences of the conflict across various aspects of daily life.
Jabr added that concerns are growing among Palestinians following statements by Gadi Eisenkot about continuing military operations to eliminate Hamas over the next 18 months. This has raised fears of continued escalation rather than the elections providing an opportunity to open a path toward ending the war and easing the suffering of the population.
He noted that the Israeli election results are attracting significant attention among Palestinians under these circumstances, not only because of the potential political changes they could bring, but also because of their possible implications for the future of the Gaza Strip, amid fears that the war could continue and claim more Palestinian lives.
Meanwhile, a senior official at Israel's Central Elections Committee said today that it is too early to determine the impact of double-envelope ballots on the distribution of Knesset seats, noting that more than half a million such envelopes are expected to be counted.
Elad Naveh, director of the Elections Committee's monitoring center, told the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that the counting of double-envelope ballots would begin at midnight and continue until tomorrow evening.
"We expect the number of envelopes to exceed half a million. We cannot determine the final number of seats at this stage because until all ballot boxes are received and the envelopes counted, we will not be able to know the final result," he said.
Earlier today, Israel's Central Elections Committee announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had secured 27 seats, while Gadi Eisenkot had won 21 seats, after 55.4% of the votes had been counted.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, based on the counting of 2,950,493 votes, representing 51.8% of the votes counted, Netanyahu's alliance had secured 55 seats, while Eisenkot's alliance had 49 seats and Arab parties had 16 seats.
The newspaper reported that Likud had won 27 seats, Yashar 21, the Joint List 12, Together 11, the Democrats 9, United Torah Judaism 9, Yisrael Beiteinu 8, Shas 7, Otzma Yehudit 6, Religious Zionism and Identity 6, and Ra'am 4. The Joint List also gained an additional seat at the expense of Otzma Yehudit.
These partial results could change significantly, as several exit polls showed a very close race between the two camps, with neither securing a parliamentary majority.
Tuesday's election was Israel's first since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, followed by wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
