Israel has finished counting the votes, but the result has not clarified who will govern the country. The Tuesday's legislative elections have left Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu's party, with 27 seats, a figure that does not guarantee him a parliamentary majority, and have opened negotiations in which all government options have a political cost. The opposition can try to remove the prime minister with the support of the Arab parties, explore a unity government with him, or take the risk of new elections. Netanyahu, meanwhile, still has an ace up his sleeve: if his adversaries cannot reach an agreement, he could remain in power.

In 1996, the Israelis went to sleep convinced that Shimon Peres would continue to be prime minister and woke up with Benjamin Netanyahu in power. Thirty years later, history seems to be repeating itself. Last night, the first exit polls had fueled the hopes of the opposition, but as the count progressed, Netanyahu returned to the center of the stage.

Israel is heading towards a new stage of political uncertainty, as the count of Tuesday's elections progresses, with 85% of the vote scrutinized. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, Likud, has been the most voted, but it would not obtain enough seats to form a government with the current coalition partners: it would remain with 53 seats in a 120-seat parliament. The opposition bloc, led by former general Gadi Eisenkot, who is in second place, would remain with 48 seats. At this moment, Likud would obtain 26 seats and Yashar, Eisenkot's party, 21. Amidst these two blocs, the groups representing Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, who would total 17 deputies, could hold the key to governability.

“Do you think war will return?”. In Israel, the question hangs over elections marked by uncertainty. “It's not a question of whether it returns or not, but of when,” more and more people respond, convinced that ceasefires have only postponed a new escalation. While the Israelis vote, the entire region looks towards the same question: whether the results will open a door to diplomacy or if, once the polls are closed, the weapons will speak again.

Israel is holding parliamentary elections this Tuesday that could mark a turning point after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and three years of war and political crisis. Benjamin Netanyahu aspires to remain in power, while the opposition attempts to turn his attrition into a viable alternative. Turnout by midday was 16.68%, according to the electoral board, one of the highest in the last decade.

Benjamin Netanyahu wants to reach the polls with an image of strength: that of a prime minister capable of speaking as an equal with the President of the United States. Nine days before the Israeli elections, Donald Trump offered him an opportunity to project this image. The American president described the Israeli leader as a “warrior prime minister,” expressed his “full and total support” for his reelection, and attributed to him a decisive role in the offensive against Iran, which began in February. But the endorsement has a paradox: it can strengthen Netanyahu among his voters and, at the same time, serve as a reminder that Washington does not always share his priorities.

The cost of rent, groceries, transport, and bills has become one of the main concerns for Israeli families. A few days before the October 27th elections, many are wondering if the next government will be able to ease this pressure after more than three years of war and high military spending. Security remains central to the campaign, but the economy also weighs on the vote. A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) research center indicates that the cost of living and the economy are priorities for 38% of Jewish respondents and 46% of Arabs. A malaise that is concentrated especially on the rising cost of housing and food, two structural problems that have been dragging on for years.

Returning to Israel has become an arrest for some citizens. Forty-two ultra-Orthodox men who arrived on Tuesday from New York were arrested by military police at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, accused of evading military service. Twenty-seven of them agreed to join the ranks and were released, and thirteen went through a judicial process and were then imprisoned, although they eventually agreed to go into the army and have been released. But two more went directly from the airport to prison for having avoided recruitment for more than 540 days.

The possibility of a new open war with Iran is once again looming over Israel in the final stretch of the election campaign. Less than a week before the legislative elections on October 27th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified threats against Tehran and asserted the need to resume the military offensive. A rhetorical escalation that coincides with reports of bombing plans that Donald Trump allegedly halted and with the surprise visit of US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to Israel.

In Riyadh, cars fill the roads, restaurants receive customers and football matches are played. But, under this appearance of normality, an uneasiness that is difficult to erase has settled in: not knowing when the next alert will sound or where the next projectile might fall. The wave of attacks by the Houthis from Yemen has hit strategic infrastructures and has exposed the limits of a country that has invested enormous resources in defense.

Neither the presence of European diplomats nor a press vest has prevented Israeli settlers from acting with violence again in the West Bank. This Saturday, a group of settlers attacked a European diplomatic delegation in Taybeh, a Christian-majority Palestinian town located east of Ramallah in the West Bank, a territory considered occupied since 1967 by the international community.

The King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the second busiest in Saudi Arabia, has remained closed this Monday after several days of missile attacks claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels. This weekend alone, projectile impacts caused at least fourteen deaths and more than 300 injuries, according to available tolls. Given this situation, the airport is expected to remain closed until next Saturday, October 17, according to an official aeronautical notice issued this Monday and reported by Reuters.

At least 13 people have died and more than 300 others have been injured in a missile attack at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Saturday's bombing is the third attack on the airport this week and the deadliest in the country since May 2015, when the war in Yemen had already entered a phase of intensified fighting between Saudi forces – which supported the internationally recognized Yemeni government – and Houthi rebels. Saudi authorities attribute the attack to the Houthi rebels, aligned with Iran, and have described it as a "war crime". They have also announced that they will respond to the offensive.

Israel enters an election campaign with a familiar feeling: politics is once again revolving around Benjamin Netanyahu. But this time the prime minister arrives at the polls after three years that have transformed the country. On October 27, Israelis will vote for the first time since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, which shook Israel and triggered a war that has spread to several fronts, from Gaza and Lebanon to Iran, Syria and Yemen.

At 6:29 a.m., Israel came to a standstill. For one minute, the streets fell silent and thousands of people came out to remember those who died three years ago. The country thus began a day that did not have a single stage or a single ceremony. The tribute was spread across the kibbutzim, the rural communities near the border with Gaza, the streets of Tel Aviv, in front of the Parliament in Jerusalem and, above all, in the places where the massacre took shape.

In the Negev desert, near the Gaza Strip, it is hard to imagine that three years ago this place was full of music and dozens of young people dancing until sunrise. Today, at the site where the Nova festival was held there is no music. There are photographs and memorials scattered across the esplanade. A drone flies over the area while Israeli soldiers guard the access points. On one side, 378 trees commemorate the people murdered by Hamas at the festival. The memorial also remembers the 44 attendees who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

In Gaza, returning to school does not necessarily mean returning to a school building. For thousands of children, the new term has begun in tents, courtyards, and temporary learning spaces. There are notebooks and blackboards, but also rubble, displacement, and children who are still queuing to get water before classes begin. Amidst all of this, there is a feeling that for three years had been set aside: the possibility that something might once again resemble life as it was before.

“The Flydubai flight and the indomitability of the Jews”, “The avoided Flydubai tragedy highlights Israeli courage” or “Extraordinary heroism and nearly miraculous circumstances prevent an air catastrophe” are some of the headlines that can be read these days in Israel. Two days after the incident with Flydubai flight FZ1073, the feeling in the country is one of having dodged a tragedy, but also of having discovered a crack in air security, in one of the countries most obsessed with this issue.

At the Tel Aviv Hostages Square, about 300 people listened this Monday evening to testimonies from relatives and survivors of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. They were wearing t-shirts, caps, and pins with photographs of the hostages. Amidst banners with names and faces, a recreation of a tunnel recalled the conditions in which the kidnapped were held in Gaza. A man dressed as the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, held a banner with a blunt message: "Nobody told me!".The protest comes at a time when the question of what the Israeli government knew before the Hamas attack has returned to the center of Israeli politics. This time the debate passes through Abu Dhabi. On Sunday, the prime minister traveled in secret to the United Arab Emirates to meet with its president, Mohamed bin Zayed. The reason for the visit was to ask him to deny that he had warned him before October 7th that Hamas was preparing an attack, according to sources cited by Associated Press.Netanyahu's office has denied this version and explained that the visit aimed to “strengthen bilateral relations and address regional challenges.” The Emirates government has given a similar version of the visit, without making any mention of a specific request from the Israeli leader.The visit, lasting about four hours and without leaving the airport, as reported by the Israeli media outlet Channel 12, comes amidst weeks of controversy. A few days ago, the newspaper Haaretz published that the Emirates had allegedly alerted Israel that Hamas was preparing a major operation against the country. According to this information, Bin Zayed had personally communicated the warning to Netanyahu, but the notice was not sent to the main Israeli intelligence agencies or the army. Netanyahu denies this version.

The war between Iran and the United States is entering a phase of high tension once again. After weeks in which indirect contacts have kept a diplomatic path open, Washington has rejected Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran is hardening its military discourse and warning that it is prepared for a new American offensive.