Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving premier after 12 years in power, had hoped Tuesday's election would finally allow him to unite a stable right-wing coalition behind him, after three inconclusive elections since 2019.
The American former president's conservative base was avidly pro-Israel and Trump fulfilled a wishlist for the hawkish Netanyahu.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the first Israeli premier to be indicted in office, was formally charged last year over allegations that he accepted improper gifts and sought to trade regulatory favour with media moguls in exchange for positive coverage.
The Knesset legislature was dissolved when the coalition headed by Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and Gantz's centrist Blue and White party missed a midnight deadline to pass a 2020 budget.
Many of the oil-rich Gulf states have been quietly cultivating ties with Israel for years, but the normalisation deal allows those relationships to burst into the open, offering rich opportunities as they try to repair economies savaged by the coronavirus crisis.
Netanyahu's legal team on Tuesday asked the court to allow his absence from the formal reading of the charges against him, despite written objections by the state attorney's office.
The right-wing premier Netanyahu and centrist Gantz, Israel's former army chief, have gone head-to-head in three stalemated elections over the past year.
Details on an emergency government were not immediately clear, and any arrangement would likely be temporary, perhaps lasting long enough for Israel to pass through the worst of the pandemic.
In a sharp blow to Netanyahu, who had declared victory in a 2 March election, 61 of parliament’s 120 legislators voiced support for Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party, in consultations with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday.
Benny Gantz does not officially have that title as the country has been stuck without a fully functioning government for more than a year, with three elections unable to produce a decisive result.
Calling the plan a 'historic opportunity' for the Palestinians to achieve an independent state, Trump added, 'this could be the last opportunity they will ever have.'
Israeli military aircraft carried out air strikes against the Gaza Strip Wednesday night, the army said, in what it called a response to a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced in Septemberhat he planned to annex the Jordan Valley, which accounts for around a third of the West Bank, if re-elected.
Settler leaders often say after attacks on Israelis that the right response is settlement growth.
Sara Netanyahu was found guilty of exploiting the mistake of another person and ordered to pay a fine and compensation.
John Earnest, 19, posted a virulently anti-Semitic letter on right-wing internet forums and armed himself with an assault rifle before carrying out the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue, near San Diego, on Saturday.
In a letter made public Sunday evening Avichai Mandelblit told Benjamin Netanyahu lawyers that if he wants to exercise his right to defend himself before possible indictment he must notify authorities by 10 May.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority and his main challenger conceding defeat.
