Israel election latest: ‘Record low’ turnout in Arab areas amid voter intimidation claims

Meanwhile, pollsters tracking the voting in Israel’s Arab towns, have reported “lowest ever” turnouts there.

This may be connected to reports that Mr Netanyahu’s party Likud distributed 1,200 tiny cameras and recording devices to its observers in polling stations in Arab communities.

When asked by reporters, the prime minister did not deny this and appeared to justified the move.

Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, the head of the Central Election Commission, ordered that the devices be banned from polling stations and that no party could covertly film or record the voting process.

In the last polls to appear in the media before the cutoff on Friday, Likud was in a dead-heat with Benny Gantz’s Blue & White alliance.

However Mr Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing and religious parties held on to a small but steady majority of Knesset seats.

The leaders of the small right-wing parties are worried though that Mr Netanyahu’s “Gevald campaign”, urging right-wingers to vote only Likud, could deprive them of the minimum number of voters necessary to cross the electoral threshold of 3.25 percent.

In such a case, Likud may emerge the largest party but lose some of its coalition partners and perhaps even its majority.

Voting ends at 10pm in Israel — 8pm UK time — and the first exit polls will give an indication of whether Mr Netanyahu’s strategy has been effective.