Shafaq News/ The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated, at dawn on Tuesday, his "great victory" that came "against all odds" in the legislative elections that took place on Monday and were crucial to his political survival.

"This victory tonight, which exceeded all expectations, is greater than the victory of 1996," Netanyahu said. "We have faced all the forces that said that Netanyahu era is gone."

For his part, the head of Blue and White party, former Israeli general Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's main rival admitted "disappointment" after the polls showed his party came second after the Likud in the Israeli general elections.

"I share with you feelings of disappointment and pain," Gantz said in a speech to his supporters in Tel Aviv, adding that he "hoped that the results of the legislative elections would be different."

He said "We must raise our head and wait for the real results, and we will remain strong and united because our path is the good path."

Opinion polls showed Netanyahu ahead of his opponent Gantz.

Surveys conducted by three television channels also showed that the right-wing bloc and its Likud party, to which Netanyahu belongs, will get 60 seats, and will need one additional vote to form a government with a majority of 61 deputies out of 120 in the Knesset.

This is the third general election in Israel in less than a year, and the previous two rounds of elections produced very close results between the two parties, which prevented either of them from forming a government coalition with the required majority in the Knesset.