Benny Gantz, head of the center-left Blue and White party, said he was open to the idea of unity government as long he was at the top of it.

Netanyahu had rejected the idea of a unity government throughout the campaign, but he invited Gantz to “meet me today” soon after Blue and White was shown to have picked up another parliamentary seat, giving it an edge over Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party of 33 seats to 31, with 97 percent of the vote recorded.

“During the elections, I called for the establishment of the right-wing government,” said Netanyahu in a statement. “Unfortunately, election results show that this is not possible. Therefore, there is no choice but to form a broad unity government that is as wide as possible.”