Balad party leader Sami Abu Shehadeh has accused Israel’s main political leaders of “racism” for refusing to form a coalition with Arab-led parties despite their projected record 19 seats in parliament.

Balad is one of the Joint List’s three parties.

He said that Palestinian citizens of Israel are being treated as illegitimate political partners.

“This is racism,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are a legitimate elected leadership of the national minority. The vast majority of our people decided that we are their leadership.”

Daniel Shek, a former Israeli ambassador told the outlet: “Probably the most important phenomenon of this election is the rise and the revival of the Arab vote. The statement is clear: You cannot disregard such a large portion of the electorate in the calculations for Israeli politics.”

With roughly 85 per cent of votes counted by Wednesday afternoon, neither the incumbent’s right-wing religious bloc nor the broad coalition aligned behind Mr Eisenkot commanded the 61 seats required to form an administration in the 120-seat Knesset.

Because key parties have ruled out working with one another on ideological or personal grounds, political analysts note that forming an administration will require at least one faction to reverse its campaign commitments. In the absence of an agreement, Israeli law mandates a return to the ballot box.

Arab parties in Israel are poised for their strongest electoral performance in generations, potentially winning 19 seats, up from 10 in the outgoing Parliament.

Their support could prove decisive in helping opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot secure the 61 seats needed to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu, whose alliance also appears short of a majority.

“Netanyahu knows that without the Arab parties, there’s no majority to unseat him. That’s why he incites against us,” Yousef Jabareen, the leader of the Joint List alliance said in an interview.

“The opposition should reject that incitement.”

He added: “The ball is now in Eisenkot’s court. Whoever wants to remove Netanyahu and change his policies – we are ready to cooperate to topple his government.”

However, partnering with the Arab parties, particularly the more nationalist Joint List, risks alienating Jewish voters and splitting Eisenkot’s bloc, analysts have said.

Arab Israelis make up about 20 per cent of the population in Israel but have long been marginalised in national politics.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has repeated unsubstantiated claims that Arab citizens of Israel “stole” Tuesday’s election, despite the official elections committee finding no evidence of widespread irregularities.

Analysts say Netanyahu is seeking to undermine the legitimacy of Arab voters’ ballots because Arab parties are expected to win a historically high number of seats, potentially enabling his Jewish Israeli rivals to form an alliance with them and remove him from power.

In Gaza, displaced Palestinian Majed Jundia made no distinction between Netanyahu and Eisenkot, a former military chief.

“They want to eradicate the Palestinian people so they do what they want,” said Jundia.

Netanyahu was heavily criticised over security failures leading up to the Hamas assault on Israel’s deadliest day.

Portraying himself as the only leader who could protect the country, the consummate political survivor argued that his assassinations of the leaders of Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and their ally Iran made Israel, and the world, safer.

Kamel Haddad, an 81-year-old Lebanese man who has witnessed Israel’s conflicts with neighbouring states over decades, expected no changes.

“As for who wins? I couldn’t care less. Let them tear each other apart, what difference does it make to me?” he said. “They might get preoccupied with one another since there are issues between them now. Perhaps they would leave us be for a bit.”

An ​attacker with two knives who wounded a policeman guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade overnight has been shot dead.

Serbia’s outgoing interior minister confirmed the news on Wednesday.

“One minor, of so far undetermined identity, who is reasonably suspected to be from Šabac, ⁠rushed at an ​officer of the ⁠Gendarmerie shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and attacked him with two knives,” Ivica Dacic ⁠said in an emailed statement.

Dacic added that ​he ⁠had raised Serbia’s ‌security threat level to red, the highest, and that there would be an increased police ‌presence at key locations. ‌The officer suffered a light head wound, Dacic said.

Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to face more constraints as Israel’s caretaker prime minister after Tuesday’s election, but experts say his government could still retain significant powers including when it comes to waging war on Iran.

Neither Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition nor an opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is projected by Israeli media to win a majority in the country’s 120-seat legislature. Eisenkot has acknowledged the prime minister was still in office as a caretaker but issued a warning that Netanyahu might use security for political ends.

Netanyahu’s office has previously rejected accusations he is using the Iran conflict for political gain. His office did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.

“If you look at the letter of the law, a caretaker government has the same authority, has the same powers as a regular government,” said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, adding however that a caretaker government “has a duty of restraint” and more limited discretion to act in some areas.

A caretaker government faces limitations when it comes to issues such as appointments, but has leeway to act in matters where there is a public interest, analysts say.

President Trump has taken credit for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s performance in Tuesday’s Knesset election.

Trump shared a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that claimed his endorsement of Netanyahu turned around the latter’s campaign and may still carry him back to office.

“When President Trump endorsed Bibi Netanyahu, the whole tide turned, and now, rather than a decisive defeat for a Great Prime Minister, it looks like a big come-from-behind stalemate, or even a WIN for Netanyahu,” quoting Irving C. Schwartz.

“It all took place AFTER the Endorsement by President Trump, who only wants what is good for the Middle East, Israel, and the United States of America!”