Eisenkot faces significant challenges on the road to becoming prime minister. He has three options: a power-sharing agreement with Netanyahu, support from Arab-led parties – something several members of his bloc do not support – or an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox parties, which demand military exemptions for their community.

Eisenkot has laid out a series of conditions for any Arab party to join his coalition, including recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and declaring the Palestinian militant group Hamas a terrorist organisation. One of Eisenkot’s partners, the more conservative Yisrael Beiteinu party, already has said it will not join a coalition with Arab-led parties.