Israelis flocked to the polls Tuesday in record numbers as a deeply divided electorate delivered a verdict on veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the first election since the October 7, 2023 attack.

After casting his vote in Jerusalem, Netanyahu expressed worry over high voting among Israel's Arab minority and warned of attempts to "steal the election", a signal of a potential long fight ahead as he echoed his ally U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israelis entered the final 24 hours of an intense election season on Monday, as reports circulated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have clashed with the Israeli military over initiating a possible escalation with Iran immediately before the vote.

Tensions flared over reports that Netanyahu and his military chief of staff disagreed over an instruction by the prime minister to carry out an "action" that the army worried could reignite the conflict with Iran. Netanyahu's office denied the report, first published by Israel's Channel 12, as "fake news."

Egypt's parliament authorized on Monday sending military support to Saudi Arabia to defend the kingdom from attacks by Yemen's Houthis, following a request from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The House of Representatives "approved authorizing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take the necessary measures to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", state newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

A ceasefire agreement in Gaza has not stopped what a group of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. say is genocide carried out by Israel in the territory, the team said in a new report Monday. They also accused Israeli forces of crimes against humanity, including torture and rape, in the West Bank.

Israel, which denies both the genocide and the sexual assault claims, did not immediately respond to the report's publication.

Iraq's government said Monday that a Yazidi armed group in the northern district of Sinjar would be dissolved and its fighters would join the country's official security forces.

The agreement comes as authorities seek to bring weapons under state control despite opposition from some of the country's most powerful militias, and amid a push to end Turkey's military presence in northern Iraq.

Israel's defense minister denied on Monday reports of a rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the army over Iran, as the premier's rivals seized on the story as a line of attack a day before close elections.

Over the course of a neck-and-neck race, Netanyahu has campaigned heavily on his security credentials, insisting only he can "finish the job" in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Israel's elections Tuesday could mark the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decades-long political career.

But his legacy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank — of massive settlement expansion, the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the empowerment of armed settler extremists — will likely endure, even if his opponents seek to rein it in.

Jordanian security forces arrested three men on Monday for an attack on a Greek Orthodox Church that killed nine people and wounded more than two dozen last week. The arrest involved a shootout and all three men were wounded, officials said.

The Public Security Directorate said no member of the Jordanian forces was wounded in the dawn shootout in Karak, south of Jordan's capital, Amman.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis struck several of its missile launchers and storage facilities, a spokesman said on Monday, while the Iran-backed group claimed a new attack on Riyadh's international airport.

The coalition's operation came a day after explosions rattled Saudi Arabia's capital and authorities sent text messages to residents warning them of a "hostile aerial threat" to the city, which has been heavily targeted by the Houthis in recent weeks.

High-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey were in Tehran on Monday for meetings with Iranian authorities to try to avert renewed fighting between Iran and Israel and the United States, two regional officials said.

The talks come as many in Iran are girding themselves for the possible return to a return to all-out war, as Israeli and American leaders have been sharpening their threats ahead of pending elections in both countries, while Iranian leaders have remained defiant.