Netanyahu falls short of majority amid vote count

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu could struggle to secure enough seats to stay in power, incomplete results from Tuesday's election show.

With nearly 90% of votes counted, his right-wing bloc is eight seats short of the threshold to form a government.

A rival right-wing party would so far add another seven seats if it throws its weight behind Mr Netanyahu.

The final results will among other things determine the course of Israel's relations with the Palestinians.

Mr Netanyahu – Israel's longest-serving leader – has promised to form a right-wing government led by his Likud party.

A smaller right-wing party, Yamina, led by former Netanyahu loyalist Naftali Bennett, could hold the balance of power, but has not explicitly declared whether it will support Mr Netanyahu's efforts to form a government or those of opposition parties wanting to remove him.

"I will do only what is good for the State of Israel," Mr Bennett said after voting ended on Tuesday night.

He added that he had told Mr Netanyahu that Yamina would await the final results before deciding on its next steps.

Mr Netanyahu thanked his supporters in a tweet late on Tuesday. "You gave a huge win to the right and Likud under my leadership. Likud is the biggest party by far."

"It's clear most Israelis are right-wing, and want a strong, stable right-wing government," he added.

Meanwhile the main opposition leader Yair Lapid, whose centrist Yesh Atid party is projected to win about 17 seats, said he was "proud" of his party's "enormous" achievement.