Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger Benny Gantz were deadlocked Wednesday after an Israeli general election, reports said, raising the possibility of a unity government or even the end of the premier's long rule.

Israel voted in its second election in five months Tuesday that will decide whether to extend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's term as the country's longest-serving prime minister despite corruption allegations against him.

Benjamin Netanyahu has become Israel's longest-serving prime minister with his right-wing leadership and by repeatedly besting rivals with deft political moves, but he will have to pull another rabbit out of the hat in Tuesday's elections.

New official data obtained by The Associated Press shows a spike in Jewish settlement construction in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem since President Donald Trump took office in 2017, along with strong evidence of decades of systematic discrimination illustrated by a huge gap in the number of construction permits granted to Jewish and Palestinian residents.

The expansion of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem, which Israel seized along with the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, threatens to further complicate one of the thorniest issues in the conflict.

Israel's decision to bar two Muslim members of the US Congress drew strikingly sharp criticism from several allies to the Jewish state, including top Democratic lawmakers, presidential hopefuls and influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

Syria on Tuesday accused Israel of committing "state terrorism" after reported Israeli air strikes killed 15 people including civilians.

Israel will attend an upcoming conference on the economic aspects of Washington's peace plan aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Foreign Minister Israel Katz has said.

Israeli warplanes bombed bunkers at a Hamas base in Gaza early Thursday following the first rocket fire from the territory since early May, the military said.

Israeli troops exchanged fire with Palestinian security forces in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday in a rare shootout Israel's army said was the result of mistaken identity.

The Palestinian governor of Nablus, Ibrahim Ramadan, said that two members of the Palestinian security forces were lightly wounded in the incident in the early hours of the morning adjacent to their headquarters.

The US ambassador has said Israel has the right to annex at least "some" of the occupied West Bank, in comments likely to deepen Palestinian opposition to a long-awaited US peace plan.

The Palestinians have rejected the plan before it has even been unveiled, citing a string of moves by US President Donald Trump that they say show his administration is irredeemably biased.