Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading in a tight election in Israel, but is still short of a governing majority in the third national ballot in less than a year.
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Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, claimed victory in Monday's vote over his main challenger, former armed forces chief Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White, after exit polls projected his party had come out on top.
But with nearly three-quarters of the votes counted, Netanyahu appeared three seats short of a majority in Israel's parliament, a gap signalling there may be deadlock yet again.
A win for Netanyahu, 70, after inconclusive ballots in April and September, would be testimony to the political durability of Israel's longest-serving leader, who fought the latest campaign under the shadow of a looming corruption trial.
It would also pave the way for Netanyahu to make good on his pledge to annex, after the election, Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the region's Jordan Valley, under a peace plan presented by US President Donald Trump.
Palestinians have rejected the proposal.
With about 72 per cent of votes counted, Likud led Blue and White by 35 seats to 32. Together with right-wing and religious parties, Netanyahu could build a 58-seat coalition, short of a majority in the 120-seat parliament.
Unless things shift as the remaining votes are tallied, another round of complicated political negotiations awaits.
In the previous election, in September, Blue and White edged past Likud, taking 33 seats to its rival's 32, but Gantz, like Netanyahu, was unable to put together a ruling coalition.
The mostly Arab Joint List party again emerged as the third-largest party, apparently growing to 17 seats from 13 in the last election.
Netanyahu campaigned vigorously on his strongman "security-first" platform, familiar to Israeli voters over decades, and his loyal base of blue-collar voters has stood firmly behind him throughout, seemingly unfazed by his imminent trial.
Gantz, in an address at his party's election headquarters, stopped short of conceding defeat, saying the election could result in another deadlock.
Netanyahu's re-election bid has been complicated by his indictment on charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud over allegations he granted state favours worth millions of dollars to Israeli media barons in return for favourable press coverage, and that he wrongfully received gifts.
The first trial of a sitting prime minister in Israel is due to begin on March 17. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.
Australian Associated Press
