JERUSALEM: Israel's former military chief Gadi Eisenkot started the tough task Sunday of forming a government, reaching out to Benjamin Netanyahu's allies as he warned the veteran prime minister had brought the country to a historic crisis.
Eisenkot, 66, a political novice who has vowed to bridge Israel's deep polarisation under Netanyahu, formally received a mandate from President Isaac Herzog, giving him 28 days to form a government despite his bloc lacking a clear majority.
"We are in a state of emergency, approaching a point of no return for the State of Israel," Eisenkot, who had traded his usual all black for a suit and tie, said at a ceremony at the presidential office.
"We must form a national emergency government. This will require creative and unconventional political steps."
Eisenkot, born to a family of working-class Moroccan immigrants, would be the first Sephardic prime minister -- a community mostly descended from Middle Eastern or North African Jews -- in a country long dominated by an Ashkenazi elite with ties to Europe.
Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, having led the country on and off for nearly two decades. He has taken the country in a sharply rightward direction and led wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
Both Eisenkot and Herzog acknowledged Israel's growing isolation under Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court.
In the United States, the most vital ally of Israel, Democrats on Tuesday swept elections with calls to rein in Israel after the devastation in Gaza and the unpopular Iran war which Netanyahu launched with President Donald Trump.
"We are in the midst of a devastating diplomatic crisis. Even our closest friends and strategic allies are saying their relationship with Israel must be reassessed," Eisenkot said.
Eisenkot appealed to Netanyahu's Likud Party as well as the far-right party of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join -- but only with himself as prime minister.
"My door is open and my hand is extended, wholeheartedly and willingly, to anyone who understands the gravity of this moment," he said.