Opposition leader Yair Golan accused Netanyahu of trying to illegally cling to power after the 27 October election left both blocs short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset: Netanyahu's camp took 53 seats, the opposition 48, and Arab-led parties a record 19. Opposition parties have asked Gadi Eisenkot, a former armed forces chief, to form a "national emergency government" by bringing in the Arab parties, a coalition Eisenkot had previously ruled out; Netanyahu's own camp has no such path to 61. Israel's election commission said allegations of fraud, which Netanyahu has repeated without evidence, would not affect the result's validity.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that at least four oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines while trying to pass through a stretch of the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran has declared off-limits, and that two more vessels were halted; the Guards also said they shot down a drone over the strait. Iran has controlled traffic through the strait since a US-Israeli strike touched off the war with Iran in February, and indirect talks on reopening it to normal shipping have made only halting progress.
