JERUSALEM — Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, was within reach of a governing majority on Wednesday as counting continued in Israel's first election since the October 2023 Hamas attacks, and both claimed the public had backed them.

With about 72 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing and religious parties stood at 54 of the Knesset's 120 seats and the alliance around Eisenkot at 48, Al Jazeera reported. Arab-led parties, which sit in neither camp, had 18. A coalition needs 61.

An earlier snapshot from the Central Elections Committee, with 41.09 percent of ballot boxes counted at 6:02 a.m., gave Likud about 28 seats and Yashar, the party Eisenkot leads, 21, the Israeli news site Ynet reported. It put the Netanyahu bloc at 57 and the parties aligned with Eisenkot at 47, with 16 for Arab-led lists, 12 of them for the Joint List and four for Ra'am. The committee said the figures "at this stage are partial and may change as counting and verification continue."

The count points to the sort of deadlock that sent Israelis to the polls five times between 2019 and 2022, this time with the war in Gaza unfinished. Whoever assembles a majority will set Israel's policy on Gaza and Iran, and the Arab-led parties that both camps have spent years ruling out are now close to deciding who that is.

Eisenkot, a former chief of the general staff, told supporters in the early hours of Wednesday that "the coalition of failure has lost the people's trust," according to The Times of Israel. He said the public had voted for change and called on Netanyahu to step down rather than force a second election.

"I will do everything in my power to form a Zionist government that serves all," Eisenkot said, in remarks reported by SBS News. He named a law requiring national service for all and the dismantling of Hamas among his conditions, The Times of Israel reported, and urged the heads of the security establishment and the civil service to resist pressure to serve Netanyahu's political interests, describing him as a caretaker prime minister without a mandate.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, told Likud activists that "the Likud party is the largest party" and that "nobody can compete with us," according to Al Jazeera. He said the right bloc held "a decisive majority" and accused television channels of projecting stronger opposition results to discourage his supporters. He called for a strong right-wing national government and said the true results would become clear over the next day or two, SBS News reported.

Turnout was 77.7 percent, the highest in a Knesset election in 27 years, the Central Elections Committee said, about 7.1 percentage points above the November 2022 vote. More than 60,000 Israelis returned home from abroad to vote, Al Jazeera reported.

The strength of the Arab-led parties is the result both blocs now have to answer. Mansour Abbas, who leads Ra'am, said "our vote will change the government," CNBC reported. On election day Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners warned of heavy Arab turnout, drawing accusations of racism from opponents. "If we don't wake up now, we'll find ourselves with a government of Mansour Abbas and Ahmed Tibi," Netanyahu said, in a reference to the Joint List faction chairman, Ahmad Tibi. Netanyahu has called the idea of working with Arab leaders a "disgrace and a shame."

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, told Al Jazeera there is "a price to pay" for keeping Arab parties outside and courting them only when their votes are needed. Michael Feller, chief strategist at Geopolitical Strategy, told CNBC that "even if Eisenkot's alliance wins more seats, it's less likely to be able to form a governing majority without including Arab and left-wing parties." Avigdor Liberman, whose Yisrael Beytenu sits in the opposition bloc, refused during the campaign to rely on Arab parties, CNBC said.

Netanyahu is on trial on corruption charges and faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over the Gaza campaign, which he has rejected, CNBC reported. His supporters credit him with steering Israel through the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and with standing up to international pressure, while critics point to his judicial overhaul effort and his handling of the Gaza war.

Israeli assets weakened as the picture emerged. The shekel fell 1 percent against the dollar and the Tel Aviv 35 index traded 2.7 percent lower, CNBC reported. Yields rose across the curve, with the two-year bond adding six basis points and the benchmark 10-year four.

More than 650,000 double-envelope ballots, cast by soldiers, prisoners, hospital staff, patients and Israeli representatives abroad, are verified and counted separately, Ynet reported, and officials warned that the process could run into Friday morning. Parties close to the 3.25 percent threshold, below which a list wins no seats, could still change the arithmetic.

Amin Saikal of Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies told CNBC that Netanyahu may stall the formation of a new government to his own advantage, and that the prime minister will "fight for his political survival."

The official result is due to be published on November 4. President Isaac Herzog will then consult the elected factions and ask one member of the Knesset to try to form a government, a task that carries up to 42 days. Netanyahu needed 58 days after the November 2022 election.