Israeli PM's rivals join forces for elections

JERUSALEM — Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and former prime minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday they will join forces in this year's elections, in a move aimed at unseating incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said in a statement that the move intends to "unite the bloc, put an end to internal divisions and focus all efforts on winning the critical upcoming elections".

Right-winger Bennett, a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and Lapid previously formed a coalition government in June 2021.

That coalition ended Netanyahu's 12-year consecutive rule and marked the first time an independent Arab party, Ra'am, formally joined an Israeli coalition.

It was replaced at the end of 2022 by the current administration led by Netanyahu, after Bennett said in June of that year that his coalition was no longer tenable and Lapid served a brief stint as caretaker prime minister.

Lapid has served as Israel's opposition leader since that time, while Bennett took a break from politics.

Opinion polls suggest Bennett is the candidate best placed to defeat Netanyahu in the October vote. His office said the new party will be called Together, and that he will be its leader.

On Sunday, Bennett also called on former minister Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the centrist Yashar party, to join the joint list.

Once a Netanyahu adviser, Bennett has, over time, become a staunch opponent of his former mentor's policies.

Netanyahu plans to lead his party's list in the general election that must be held no later than the end of October.

At 76, the leader of the right-wing Likud party is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, with more than 18 cumulative years in office across multiple stints.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Sunday that a soldier was killed and six others wounded in a drone attack carried out by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The death brings to 16 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the current round of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in early March amid the war with Iran.

Agencies - Xinhua