Palestine weekly: Election deadlock meets West Bank sieges, Gaza killings

Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats in Israel’s election, with nearly 840,000 votes for Ra’am and the Joint List, a 64 percent increase from 2022. Their support for Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc could produce a 67-seat anti-Netanyahu coalition, but talks are complicated by Avigdor Lieberman’s rejection of Palestinian partners and conditions set by Eisenkot. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud alleged without evidence that Palestinian parties had “stolen” the election with Qatari financing; Qatar denied the accusation, and election committee chairman Noam Sohlberg said the vote had been conducted properly. Meanwhile, Palestinians returned to their homes in Hebron after displacement during an Israeli military operation the previous week.