Benjamin Netanyahu has invited centrist rival Benny Gantz to join forces in a unity government, saying neither has enough support from respective allies to secure a majority of 61 seats in the 120-member parliament.
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party and a possible kingmaker, said on Monday he believed the only obstacle to such a government was the unresolved question of whether Netanyahu or Gantz would serve first in a rotating premiership.
Weakened by last week's deadlocked parliamentary
election, Netanyahu met Gantz at the behest of President Reuven Rivlin, who is tasked with picking a candidate to try to form the next coalition.