'Israel at historic juncture': Netanyahu refuses to concede as Gantz claims 'mission accomplished'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to fight on even as exit polls showed him tied or lagging behind his main opposition rival, with a slim chance of assembling the coalition needed for a fifth term.

"We won't have and can't have a government dependent on anti-Zionist Arab parties," Netanyahu proclaimed as the crowd of his supporters booed and chanted 'we don't want unity.'

"Israel needs a strong government, a stable government, a Zionist government, a government that is committed to Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people."

The embattled PM stopped short of claiming a victory - or conceding his defeat - saying instead "we are waiting for the real results. One thing is clear: Israel is at a historic juncture."

Netanyahu's chief rival for the premiership, retired General Benjamin 'Benny' Gantz, gave his followers a cheerful "mission accomplished" speech in the early hours of Wednesday, encouraged by the exit polls.

"We will wait for the actual results, but the way things stand, we've fulfilled our mission," he said at Blue and White HQ in Tel Aviv, adding that Netanyahu "did not succeed in his mission."

Negotiations to form a national unity government are under way, Gantz said. Blue and White has previously said they were open to such a government with Likud, but only without Netanyahu anywhere in the picture.

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Both drones and cruise missiles were used to attack the refinery at Abqaiq and the Khurais oil field, flying over southern Iraq and Kuwait to avoid Saudi air defenses, according to CNN's source. This information was also quoted by AFP, but it was unclear whether their source was the same official or a different one.

CBS News quoted a "senior US official" who said the Saudi air defenses did not stop the drones and missiles because they were pointed south, to detect and prevent attacks from Yemen.

While Washington immediately blamed Iran for the attack, the Saudi authorities have been more circumspect, with Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman saying they "don't know" who was behind it just yet.

France was likewise skeptical, with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian telling reporters he had seen no evidence indicating the origin of the attack just yet.

"Up to now, France does not have any proof that would allow us to say where the drones came from," Le Drian, who is on a working visit to Egypt, told reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference with his Egyptian colleague, Le Drian urged a "strategy of de-escalation" and seconded Saudi calls to involve the UN in the investigation.

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Riyadh to Invite Int'l Experts to Join Investigation Into Attacks on Oil Facilities

Riyadh also called on the international community to "take a firm and clear position against this reckless behaviour that threatens the global economy."

Houthi rebels regularly conduct drone attacks on facilities in Saudi Arabia, which has been providing air support to Yemen's internationally recognized government in its fight against Houthis since spring 2015. At the same time, US officials have claimed that intelligence indicates Iranian involvement in the incidents. Iran firmly denied any involvement.

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While Saudi Arabia is investigating the attacks on its oil facilities, President Donald Trump has said that "it certainly would look like" Iran was the culprit. Yet, he also noted he doesn't want another war.

Trump's statement, made to reporters on Monday, is the latest in a series that stop short of outright blaming Iran for the attack, which has already been claimed by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Earlier in the day Trump tweeted that "there is reason to believe that we know the culprit," before questioning Tehran's denial of the strike.

Other US officials have been more forceful in ascribing blame. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately called the "unprecedented attack" the work of the Iranians, and hawkish US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) called for retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets.

Amid rising fears of conflict, Trump boasted of the US' military might, saying that "the United States is more prepared" for a conflict than any country in history, but told reporters that he would "certainly like to avoid" war. "I don't want war with anybody," the President said.

Saturday's drone attacks targeted two oil refineries in Abqaiq and Khurais in the country's east. The strikes cut off half of Saudi Aramco's oil output, or five percent of the world's supply.

The Kingdom's foreign ministry added later on Monday that it will invite international experts, including UN officials, to investigate the attack.

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