Israel's new Knesset sworn in as Eisenkot gets 28 days to form government

A Knesset without a governing majority

Israel's 26th Knesset held its inaugural session on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, with its 120 members due to take their oaths from about 4 p.m. local time. President Isaac Herzog opened the sitting by striking the gavel three times and urged the parties to make concessions, including toward their rivals. The chamber convenes after the 27 October election, which gave neither bloc a majority. Benjamin Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.

Eisenkot's mandate and the seat count

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the opposition bloc and a former military chief, has been tasked with forming a government after winning the endorsement of 67 of the 120 members, against 46 for Netanyahu. In the election, Netanyahu's bloc took 53 seats and Eisenkot's bloc 48, while the Arab parties won 19 seats between them, more than ever before. Eisenkot has 28 days to assemble a government, a period that can be extended by two weeks. Almost half of the members sworn in did not sit in the previous Knesset.

The 61-seat arithmetic

Avigdor Liberman, head of Yisrael Beytenu, told the Knesset that the opposition bloc can assemble a 61-seat coalition. In his account, the 48 seats of Eisenkot's bloc would be joined by 13 seats from two ultra-Orthodox parties: seven from United Torah Judaism (UTJ), which has not nominated a prime ministerial candidate, and six from Shas, which nominated Netanyahu. Liberman ruled out even temporary Arab support if only UTJ joins, and he warned that a minority government would soon return Netanyahu to power after new elections. Netanyahu has excluded working with the Arab parties, three parties in Eisenkot's camp oppose their participation in government, and some of Eisenkot's Jewish allies have balked at a government that relies on them, leaving the bloc short of the 61 seats needed without that support.

Speaker, committees and the opposition bloc

The five opposition leaders agreed to remove Amir Ohana, a close Netanyahu ally, from the Knesset speakership and to nominate former minister Matan Kahana in his place. The Yashar party, led by Eisenkot, submitted more than 61 members' signatures seeking Ohana's replacement and a plenary vote on a new speaker. According to reports, Liberman is set to chair the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and Liran Avisar Ben Hori, a new member from Naftali Bennett's party and a former director-general of the Communications Ministry, has been proposed for the Finance Committee, where she would be the first woman to chair the panel once confirmed. Roy Folkman of Yashar is slated to head the Procedures Committee, whose membership is expected to be finalized this week and put to a plenary vote on Wednesday, 11 November.

What comes next

Eisenkot said on arriving at the Knesset that he is committed to forming a national emergency government as quickly as possible. Whether his bloc can secure a stable majority depends on how it handles the Arab parties and the unresolved 61-seat question. If efforts to form a government fail, the Knesset would be dissolved automatically and Israelis would return to the polls for a second round of elections. The timeline below lists the dates reported so far.