Rejection of request from Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz may plunge country into fourth election in just over a year

Israel’s president has turned down a request from Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz for a two-week extension to form a new coalition government.

The announcement by Reuven Rivlin means that Gantz and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have a midnight deadline on Monday to reach a power-sharing deal. If they fail, the country could be forced into a fourth consecutive election in just over a year.

Talks to join forces and end the deadlock have broken down at the last minute, with each side blaming the other

A proposed unity government deal involving Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and opposition leader, Benny Gantz, appears to be in jeopardy as initial progress stalls and a deadline this week looks set to be missed.

The pair – who have battled for more than a year in three inconclusive elections – had both expressed a desire to come to an understanding as the country faces the coronavirus pandemic. Talks to join forces and end the crippling political deadlock appeared to be in the final stages. One power-sharing deal would see them rotate the role of leader over a four-year term.

Israel’s voters either do not believe the allegations against their PM – or do not care

If Benjamin Netanyahu was going to lose one Israeli election in a big way, it may have been this one. Or at least that is how it appeared to some onlookers.

The prime minister was clearly on a downward trajectory. After embarrassingly losing allies and failing to form a government after last April’s election, the 70-year-old rightwing leader suffered a humiliating result in a repeat vote in September.

Prime minister set for comeback despite upcoming criminal corruption trial

Latest results

Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel’s third election within a year, even as the country looked set for further political deadlock after early counts suggested he was still short of securing a historic fifth term.

By Tuesday morning, with 90% of the votes counted, the prime minister’s Likud party appeared to be ahead with 36 seats, with a total of 59 for his rightwing alliance.

Netanyahu says main rival Gantz ‘not a leader’, while Gantz has focused on PM’s alleged corruption

Israelis are voting in the country’s third election within the space of a year, in a fight Benjamin Netanyahu is desperate to win on the eve of a criminal corruption trial against him.

More than 6.3 million people are eligible to cast their votes in polling stations that will close at 10pm (8pm GMT) on Monday, after which exit polls will be reported.

Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor opponent Benny Gantz are likely to break political deadlock

Israelis are due to vote on Monday in the country’s third election in 12 months, with many worried the result will be just as inconclusive as previous rounds, extending a painful political stalemate deep into 2020.

After two failed attempts to form a government, the country has been plunged into limbo, run by an interim administration without powers to pass significant legislation or even a budget.

Sara Netanyahu faces fresh allegations of mistreating staff a week before Israeli elections

A former housekeeper at Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence is suing the Israeli prime minister’s wife, Sara, for $190,000 (£148,000) in damages for pain and suffering allegedly caused during her employment there.

The woman’s lawyer, Opheer Shimson, said his client worked at the residence for five months until last November when she was injured in a fall allegedly resulting from what he described as Sara Netanyahu’s tyrannical demands.

Ministry says prime minister must be present at session, where indictment will be read

The corruption trial of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will begin on 17 March, two weeks after a national election, the justice ministry has said.

In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said Netanyahu would be required to be present at the session, at which an indictment against him would be read. The rightwing leader has denied any wrongdoing in three corruption cases. He is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime.