Results released by election officials on Thursday showed Netanyahu's bloc winning 53 seats in the 120-member assembly, well below the 68 seats it had controlled at its peak in the previous parliament.

Anxious Israelis watched election results near completion Wednesday after the highest voter turnout in over a quarter-century, as no clear winner emerged and weeks of negotiating could lie ahead for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an array of opposition parties trying to unseat him.

Final results are expected in the coming days and may vary from the exit polls.

Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country wrestles with unresolved wars, continues to reel from Hamas' 2023 attack and is deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it.