Israeli voters head to the polls on Tuesday in a closely contested election that could determine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political future and the direction of Israel's policies towards Palestinians.
The vote pits a coalition of opposition parties led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot against the far-right bloc led by Netanyahu, whose opponents accuse him of undermining Israel's democratic institutions.
It is the first Israeli election since the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023 and Israel's subsequent genocidal war on Gaza, which has been followed by wider regional conflicts involving Lebanon, Iran and Yemen.
While much of the campaign has focused on Netanyahu's leadership, the war and domestic divisions, the outcome will also affect millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank who have no vote in the election.
Palestinian citizens of Israel, meanwhile, could play a decisive role in determining the balance of power in the Knesset, even as the main Jewish-led political blocs remain reluctant to cooperate with them.
How will the vote work?
Polling stations will open at 7am on Tuesday and close at 10pm.
Major Israeli news organisations will publish exit polls shortly after voting ends, with counting beginning the same evening.
More than three dozen parties are contesting the election, with around 7.4 million people eligible to vote at polling stations across Israel.
Israel uses proportional representation, meaning voters choose a party rather than an individual candidate. The 120 seats in the Knesset are allocated according to each party's share of the national vote.
Candidates enter parliament according to their positions on their party's electoral list.
Parties must win at least 3.25% of the vote to enter the Knesset, equivalent to four seats.
No single party has ever secured an outright majority, meaning Israeli governments have always depended on coalitions.
When will the results be announced?
The official results must be declared by 4 November, although the likely distribution of seats should become clear as early as Wednesday morning.
Attention will then turn to coalition negotiations, with parties seeking to assemble a parliamentary majority of at least 61 seats.
After the official results are announced, President Isaac Herzog will consult parliamentary factions before selecting a Knesset member to attempt to form a government.
These negotiations could take weeks, particularly if neither of the main blocs wins enough seats to govern.
What are the polls saying?
The final opinion polls suggest that neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition coalition led by Eisenkot is on course to secure a majority.
Surveys published over the weekend put the opposition on 54 to 56 seats, compared with around 50 for Netanyahu's Likud-led alliance.
Eisenkot's Yashar party was projected to become the largest party with 22 to 23 seats, ahead of Likud on 19 to 21.
The polls also pointed to gains for the far right, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party projected to win eight seats.
But the remaining seats could prove crucial.
Parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel were projected to win between 14 and 16 seats, potentially leaving them with considerable influence over whether a government can be formed.
Eisenkot has previously ruled out forming a coalition with Palestinian-led parties, leaving questions over how the opposition could secure the parliamentary support it needs.
Could Palestinian voters decide the election?
Palestinian citizens of Israel account for a substantial share of the electorate, but their political representation has long been constrained by divisions between parties, low turnout and the reluctance of major Jewish-led parties to include them in governing coalitions.
This election could nevertheless give their parties considerable influence over whether Netanyahu remains in power.
The two main Arab-majority electoral lists are Ra'am, also known as the United Arab List, and the Joint List, bringing together Hadash, Balad and Ta'al.
Their performance will depend partly on turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, whose votes could influence both the number of seats won by Arab-led parties and the overall balance of the Knesset.
In an interview with The New Arab, Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh highlighted the importance of Palestinian voters in an election where neither main bloc appears assured of a majority.
The campaign has also been marked by attempts to exclude Palestinian-led parties and candidates.
Israel's Central Elections Committee voted in September to bar the Joint List and Ra'am from contesting the election, but the Supreme Court overturned the decision.
The court nevertheless upheld the disqualification of Abu Shehadeh over an article in which he described the 7 October attacks as an important historical event.
The episode has renewed questions about the political rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and the limits placed on their participation in Israeli politics.
Netanyahu has also repeatedly portrayed the possibility of opposition cooperation with Arab-led parties as a campaign warning, seeking to pressure his rivals into ruling out such an arrangement.
What about Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank?
Millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip cannot vote in the election that will help determine the policies governing their lives.
The next Israeli government will have a major influence over military operations, movement restrictions, settlement expansion and the future of Gaza.
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians face an expanding network of military checkpoints, road closures and settler attacks.
Israel has also announced the closure of land crossings into the West Bank for election day, adding to restrictions that have intensified since October 2023.
In Gaza, the central questions include whether Israel will ease its blockade, withdraw troops from occupied areas, allow displaced Palestinians to return home and permit reconstruction after three years of devastating war.
However, Netanyahu's principal challengers have offered little indication that a change in government would bring a fundamental shift in Israeli policy towards Palestinian statehood or the occupation.
Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief, has opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, while other prominent opposition figures have supported Israel's military campaigns and taken hardline positions towards Gaza.
Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, whose party is part of the opposition coalition, has criticised Netanyahu for being too soft on Gaza and called for the Palestinian Authority to be dismantled.
Meanwhile, far-right ministers Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have advocated annexing Palestinian territory and ethnically cleansing the Palestinians.
The election could therefore change Israel's leadership without necessarily bringing major changes to the policies Palestinians face.
What are the main election issues?
Netanyahu's opponents have sought to make the vote a referendum on his leadership, focusing on the security failures surrounding the 7 October attack, his long-running corruption trial and Israel's growing international isolation.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute, the October 2023 attack is expected to play an important role in the voting decisions of more than two-thirds of the electorate.
Other major issues include military conscription exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews and Netanyahu's attempts to overhaul the judiciary in 2023, which sparked widespread protests.
The election also comes after years of Israeli military operations in Gaza and regional conflicts involving Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis.
Yet there is considerable overlap between the main Jewish-led parties on questions relating to Palestinian rights, the occupation and Israel's military operations.
While opposition politicians have criticised Netanyahu's handling of the wars and the diplomatic damage caused by his government, few have advocated a fundamental reversal of settlement expansion or a renewed peace process leading to Palestinian statehood.
The most explicit calls for annexation and Palestinian displacement have come from the far right, particularly Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.
What happens if coalition talks fail?
If neither bloc can assemble 61 seats, Israel could face prolonged negotiations over a possible minority government or another election.
A minority government would need support or abstentions from parties outside the governing coalition to survive key parliamentary votes.
That could make Palestinian-led parties particularly important, even if they are excluded from formal coalition agreements.
If negotiations fail altogether, another election could be called in 2027, with Netanyahu potentially remaining as caretaker prime minister until a new government takes office.
The result could therefore leave Israel facing continued political deadlock, with Palestinian parties holding potentially important seats but little guarantee of a role in government.
For Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the immediate consequences will depend less on which party wins the most seats than on the policies the next government adopts towards the occupation, military operations, settlements and displacement.