JERUSALEM, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel's two main parties announced Saturday that their leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz, will meet on Sunday in a bid to form a unity government.
The centrist Blue and White party and the right-wing party of the Likud, Israel's ruling party, released a joint statement saying the two leaders will meet on Sunday afternoon in the defense ministry in Tel Aviv for a negotiation meeting.
Negotiation teams of both parties are also expected to meet on Sunday.
Blue and White party said that its leader Gantz and Avigdor Lieberman, the emerging kingmaker of the recent elections and leader of the right-wing party of Israel Our Home, will meet on Monday.
Gantz, Israel's former military chief, was given on Wednesday the mandate to form a new government after the decade-long prime minister failed to do so.
Both Gantz and Netanyahu have called for a unity government, but they are divided over who should lead it.
Blue and White party vowed during its election campaign not to sit in government under Netanyahu, who is a suspect in at least three criminal corruption cases.
Israel's political system has been paralyzed since the closely-fought election on Sept. 17, in which no party won enough votes to form a majority coalition in the 120-seat parliament.
The elections were the second time Israelis cast their votes in five months. Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government following the April election, which led to the second election in September.
