Israel PM Netanyahu's camp fell short of a majority in Knesset elections, winning 53 seats as results came through. No single bloc was able to secure the majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Parliament.
His Likud party grabbed the largest chunk of 27 seats. The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats. The Arab party groupings Raam and the Joint List gained a combined 19 seats.
The results established the Arab parties as potential kingmakers, whose voters from the Arab community are descendants of Palestinians who stayed after Israel's creation. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's camp alleged Arab-Israeli groups received foreign funding to influence the vote. The political controversy erupted after allegations that Raam received money from Qatar. These accusations were squarely rejected by both Arab-majority lists and Qatar.