Israeli politicians made their final campaign pitches before the divided country on Tuesday holds its fifth election in less than four years, with hawkish ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu eyeing a comeback.
The 73-year-old Likud party leader served as prime minister for longer than anyone in Israel's history before he was ousted in June 2021 by an ideologically-divided coalition forged by the current caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
That motley alliance lasted only one year, triggering Tuesday's vote, which will see Netanyahu and his allies try to secure the 61-year seat parliamentary majority in the 120-seat Knesset that has repeatedly eluded them.
The election comes in a year that has seen violence flare in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with near daily clashes in the occupied West Bank all summer.
"Bibi" Netanyahu has long billed himself as the Jewish state's guarantor of security, but has also been weakened by a trial on corruption charges which he denies.
To beat the camp around centrist Lapid and form a government, Netanyahu's right-wing party will almost certainly have to rely on its long-standing ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.
He is also expected to turn to the extreme-right co-led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for his virulent anti-Arab rhetoric and incendiary calls for Israel to annex the entire West Bank.
The final pre-election polls, released on Friday, underscored that Israel remains mired in an unprecedented era of political deadlock.
The so-called Netanyahu bloc was predicted to take 60 seats in three surveys, from Israel's Channel 12, Channel 13 and the Kan network.
The polls suggested 56 seats for anti-Netanyahu parties and four seats for an alliance of Arab-led parties that is not expected to back any Israeli government.
If the vote breaks along those lines, with neither camp reaching 61 seats, Israel could potentially be headed for an astonishing sixth election within months.
Lapid voiced confidence on Monday, telling lawmakers from his Yesh Atid party that it will win by offering voters a stark choice -- "the anger of the past or the shared good of the future."
Nearly 6.8 million Israelis are registered to vote, up 210,000 from the last election in March 2021, but voter apathy, especially among many Arab citizens, and rain forecasts have fuelled concerns about low turnout.