Netanyahu says onus of early election on coalition partners

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he plans to stay on as premier for his full term, placing the onus of an early election onto his ruling Likud Party's coalition partner. 

Netanyahu's coalition members have called for snap elections after Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman quit on Wednesday over the premier's ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

The ultra-hawkish Lieberman described Netanyahu's far-right government's policy on Gaza as too soft.

Netanyahu has been seeking to contain the political fallout of his decision to accept a ceasefire deal on Tuesday that ended the worst escalation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza since a 2014 war.

The Gaza violence had erupted on Sunday with a botched Israeli special forces operation inside the territory that turned deadly and prompted Hamas to vow revenge.

Palestinian militants responded with rocket and mortar fire, as well as an anti-tank missile that hit a bus that Hamas says was being used by Israeli soldiers. A soldier was severely wounded in the attack.

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Around 460 rockets and mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip, wounding 27 people, three of them severely.

Israel hit back with widespread air strikes on some 160 targets in the Gaza Strip before the Egyptian-brokered truce took effect Tuesday. Seven Gazans were killed.

On Thursday, Israel's centrist Kulanu party became the first coalition partner to call for snap elections.

Party leader Moshe Kahlon, who is also Israel's finance minister, were joined by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the nationalist Jewish Home.

The latter party, which is headed by Natfali Bennett, was turned down by Netanyahu to replace Lieberman as the new defence minister. 

Netanyahu's Likud-led coalition now has just 61 of 120 seats in the Knesset, a single-seat majority. Each coalition partner is now able to sink the premier's government. 

Netanyahu said he will meet the Kulanu party head on Sunday to keep his government afloat. 

"All Likud members want to keep serving the country for another whole year until the end of the term in November 2019," Netanyahu said on Twitter.

"That kind of spin doesn't work on me," Kahlon said in response on Hadashot TV. "It's impossible to run a coalition with sixty-one Knesset members."

Most observers say a snap election is all but guaranteed given the parliamentary math following Lieberman's resignation. 

Currently, the beleaguered premier is being investigated under a series of corruption charges. Experts say Netanyahu could seek a snap election to obtain another mandate before any charges could be laid against him.  

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