Benjamin netanyahu
Netanyahu leaves official residence a month after losing office
Moving trucks were spotted outside Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence and black Audi cars were filmed being towed from the property over the weekend.
The watershed moment in Israeli politics saw an ideologically disparate eight-party bloc, ranging from right to left to Arab Islamic conservatives, band together to unseat the bombastic veteran known as Bibi by a wafer-thin margin of 60 votes to 59 in parliament on Sunday.
Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving leader, and was once it's youngest ever Prime Minister.
A vote in the Knesset legislature following weeks of intense political drama ended Benjamin Netanyahu's government with a razor-thin majority
The crunch Knesset vote will either terminate the hawkish premier's uninterrupted 12-year tenure or return Israel to a stalemate likely to trigger a fifth general election since 2019.
In power for 12 consecutive years, Benjamin Netanyahu faces being toppled by a motley coalition of lawmakers united only by their shared hostility towards him.
Lapid's announcement late Wednesday came in the final hour before a midnight deadline, following marathon negotiations with a group of parties spanning the political spectrum, united only in their desire to oust Netanyahu.
Netanyahu's opponents have until the end of the day -- 11:59 pm (2059 GMT) -- to cobble together an administration that would end 12 straight years of rule by the hawkish political heavyweight, Israel's longest-ruling premier.
They have until a minute before midnight (2059 GMT) Wednesday to cobble together an administration that end 12 straight years of rule by the hawkish heavyweight, Israel's longest-ruling premier.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, a secular centrist, and religious nationalist Naftali Bennett were locked in talks late into the night Monday on the terms of a "change alliance" to unseat the premier ahead of a Wednesday midnight deadline.
Israel's latest political turmoil comes more than two months after Israel's fourth inconclusive election in less than two years, and could topple the right-wing leader known as Bibi, who has ruled for a total of 15 years.
Talks aiming to end the bloodshed continued after US President Joe Biden urged a "significant de-escalation" while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to push on until the military campaign reaches its objective, "to restore quiet and security" for Israelis.
Are we witnessing the early stages of a third intifada, in which casualties mount on both sides until the participants exhaust themselves?
Amid calls for an end to the fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Monday Israel would 'continue striking at the terrorist targets'.
Biden spoke as calls grew internationally for a de-escalation of violence after intense hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians that have left dozens dead and hundreds injured.
In Rivlin's consultations with party leaders following the 23 March vote, Netanyahu was backed by 52 lawmakers elected to Israel's 120-seat parliament, the Knesset.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving premier, had hoped that Tuesday's vote would finally allow him to unite a right-wing coalition behind him, after three inconclusive elections since 2019.
Israel, a country of about nine million people, has given the two recommended jabs of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to around four million residents.
The White House said Biden registered 'support' for a series of agreements brokered by his predecessor Donald Trump on normalizing relations between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries.