VotingMidday: turnout reaches 31.5% at noon, the highest at that hour since 1973
Central Elections Committee deputy director general Dean Livne reported 31.5% turnout at 12:00, with more than 2.3 million votes cast. The figure was 28.4% at the same hour in 2022, per Ynet. At 10:00 it was 16.7%, against 15.9% in 2022. IDF spokesperson data shows 48% of serving soldiers had voted by 13:00, against 44.4% at that hour in the last election. For context, 2022 also began at a record pace: 10:00 turnout then was the highest since 1981, per JNS. By 20:00 it was 66.3%, per Times of Israel, and the final turnout was 70.6%, per the official count.
LogisticsIsraelis spent 731 million shekels by debit card between 08:00 and 14:00, up 37.5% on 2022
A news channel reported that debit card spending from 08:00 to 14:00 came to 731.33 million shekels, which is 37.5% more than the same hours on election day in 2022, citing data from the payments company Shva. We could not confirm the figure in another outlet. Election day is a public holiday, and many people are off work.
LogisticsCommittee lets secretaries identify the next voter in line, and keeps polls open for anyone queuing at 22:00
After complaints about long lines, the Central Elections Committee told polling station secretaries they may begin identifying the next voter while the current voter is behind the privacy screen, per Ynet. Dean Livne said stations will stay open past 22:00 for anyone already in line by then, per Times of Israel and N12.
CampaignCommittee finds no evidence of systematic ballot tampering, as parties trade claims about lines
After complaints from several parties, including a Yashar complaint over ballot slips, the Central Elections Committee said at 12:34 it found no evidence of systematic tampering. Likud minister Miri Regev wrote on X that unnamed actors are "trying to steal the election." Times of Israel notes the claim is unsubstantiated. Election-integrity volunteer Yaela Raanan told Haaretz that long lines and slow ID checks in Arab communities felt "on purpose," and Adalah reported delays in Tel Sheva and Segev Shalom, per Times of Israel. These are the claims of the people quoted. The committee has not attributed the lines to intent.
CourtsChair Sohlberg bars UTJ from tracking voters at polling stations
Justice Noam Sohlberg, chair of the Central Elections Committee, issued an interim order barring United Torah Judaism from reporting voter numbers from polling stations and set 14:15 for the party's response. It followed a Movement for Quality Government petition, per Times of Israel. Separately, the committee said reports that Likud representatives tracked voters through an app were untrue and that it had received no such reports, per Ynet. Bennett's party had made that accusation, per Times of Israel.
CampaignPolice arrest three men over an alleged scheme to bribe voters for Ra'am
Police arrested three Bedouin men from southern communities over an alleged scheme to pay people to vote for Ra'am, and reportedly found tens of thousands of shekels in cash, per Times of Israel. The report does not say whether the party was involved.
LogisticsShin Bet chief says the day is going well, and a man is arrested near Yair Golan in Tel Aviv
Shin Bet chief David Zini told the Central Elections Committee that election day was going well and that turnout was rising, per N12. N12 also reported that the Shin Bet ordered tighter security for all government ministers. The Democrats said a man was arrested after apparently trying to stab party leader Yair Golan in Tel Aviv's Mesila Park. Police confirmed they arrested a suspect carrying a knife but denied it was an attempted stabbing, per Times of Israel.
CampaignTrump posts a second endorsement of Netanyahu and says Netanyahu did not ask for it
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday and urged Israelis to vote for Benjamin Netanyahu. He wrote that "we must finish the work we started." The post carried his endorsement from a week earlier, according to Zman Yisrael. Israel Hayom reports that a reporter later asked Trump whether Netanyahu had asked for the new statements. Trump answered, "No, we never talked about that." An Axios report the day before said Netanyahu asked Trump to raise his public backing. Likud spokesperson Neta Mulcho denied that, per Israel Hayom.
CampaignNetanyahu says Winter "will bring us down" and Winter answers
Zman Yisrael reports that Netanyahu told Channel 14 that what will bring the coalition down is Ofer Winter. Winter, who leads Amcha Yisrael, replied that Netanyahu's circle spreads lies and insulted bereaved families. He asked whether Netanyahu now says the problem of the right is Winter. He called on supporters to vote for his party and said it would be "the surprise of the elections." The article gives no exact time for Netanyahu's remarks.
CampaignWinter's party says a cyberattack blocked its officials on WhatsApp
Amcha Yisrael said several candidates and senior campaign staff lost access to WhatsApp. The party called it an "aggressive and scheduled cyberattack" that used foreign phone numbers. It said it had bought replacement phones in advance and that election-day preparations were not harmed. The party also said it contacted the relevant authorities. The article does not name them. It includes no comment from WhatsApp or police, so this is the party's own account.
CourtsYisrael Beytenu asks the Elections Committee to act on WhatsApp messages from foreign numbers
Yisrael Beytenu filed an urgent request on Monday evening with Justice Noam Sohlberg, chair of the Central Elections Committee. It says thousands of Russian-language WhatsApp messages came from numbers with Indian and Swedish prefixes. The messages told voters not to back Avigdor Liberman because his party would miss the threshold. The party calls that claim false. It says some messages came from fake accounts posing as Naftali Bennett's Beyachad party, which joined the request. The party asks for an injunction and for a Shin Bet and police inquiry. The articles report no response from the committee.
List changesHaKahal party withdraws from the race
The Haredi party HaKahal, led by attorney Shlomo Alboim, announced on Monday that it is leaving the race. The party said it acted out of responsibility and wants to help the Torah-observing camp succeed. It urged supporters to vote for that camp. Kikar HaShabbat notes that HaKahal appeared in no poll.
LogisticsPrivacy Protection Authority warns parties against collecting turnout data from polling stations
The authority said on Monday that party representatives at polling stations may not pass information to parties on whether voters arrived or voted, by any means. It said it will enforce the ban with administrative and criminal powers, including checks of app servers. The warning covers parties, representatives, app operators, suppliers, activists and supporters. Authority head Gilad Semama said intentional violations can bring up to five years in prison. The High Court barred real-time digital turnout reports from polling stations on 22 October. The public can report concerns on hotline 3103*.
CampaignPolice unit says it removed two bot networks from X and Facebook
Ynet reports that the police Matzpen cyber unit monitors social networks around the clock, with work peaking on election day. Police say they removed two networks from X and Facebook the day before the article ran. The unit targets bots, impersonators and fake accounts, including AI-generated posts and invented statements attributed to candidates. Yashar, led by Gadi Eisenkot, filed a complaint over a forged message. Police say they reach only a small share of those behind such operations and are working to disrupt them first.
LogisticsElection day: 7.3 million eligible voters, 12,018 polling stations, ballots must stay unmarked
Israel Hayom lists 7,331,981 eligible voters, up 543,177 from the last election. It lists 12,018 polling stations, including 250 in hospitals, 55 in prisons and detention centers, and 102 at missions abroad. Most stations open at 07:00, per Ynet. i24NEWS reports that the Central Elections Committee warned voters to use printed ballots as they are. Added words, signatures or drawings could lead to the vote being disqualified.