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The Arab bloc in Israel's parliament abandoned its usual hands-off stance Sunday and endorsed former military chief Benny Gantz for prime minister, potentially giving him the edge over hard-line incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.

The historic move marked the first time in nearly three decades that the Arab parties backed a candidate for prime minster, reflecting their contempt for Netanyahu, who was accused of fomenting hatred of the Arabs during his re-election campaign.

"Benny Gantz is not our cup of tea," said Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi. "But we promised our constituents that we would do everything to topple Netanyahu, and the default here is recommending Benny Gantz."

It will be up to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to decide which candidate should be given the chance to form a coalition government and serve as prime minister — a usually pro forma task made difficult this time by last week's deadlocked parliamentary elections.

The endorsement by the Joint List, a bloc of four small Arab parties that controls 13 seats, marked a turning point in Israeli politics. Arab parties have traditionally refrained from endorsing a candidate for prime minister, and they have never sat in a coalition government, not wanting to be seen as legitimizing Israeli policies.

Although many Israeli Arabs remain angry at Gantz for leading the military's devastating war against Gaza militants in 2014, their fury toward Netanyahu runs much deeper. Netanyahu's campaign repeatedly accused the Arabs of trying to "steal" the election, drawing accusations of racism and incitement.

There is also deep-seated anger over a law passed by Netanyahu's government in 2018 that declared Israel to be the nation-state of the Jewish people. Arabs believe the law codifies discrimination.

Though the Arab parties are still expected to stay out of Gantz's future government, their endorsement reflects a growing desire of Israel's large Arab minority to take a more active role in shaping the country.

In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, argued that his move should end Netanyahu's political career and provide a watershed moment for Israel's Arab minority.

"If the center-left parties of Israel believe that Arab Palestinian citizens have a place in this country, they must accept that we have a place in its politics," he wrote. "There is no shared future without the full and equal participation of Arab Palestinian citizens."

The deciding factor looks to be Lieberman, who is demanding a broad unity government with the two major parties that will be secular and exclude the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and Arabs. That appears to be the compromise emerging between Blue and White and Likud, though both are insisting upon leading it.

Complicating matters is Blue and White's refusal to sit with Netanyahu because he faces a likely indictment on corruption charges.

In calling a new election, Netanyahu had hoped to secure a narrow majority of hard-line and religious parties that would grant him immunity from prosecution on charges that could include bribery, breach of trust and fraud. But now that possibility appears to be off the table.

Israeli law does not require a sitting premier to resign if indicted. But if he is charged, as is widely expected, he will come under heavy pressure to step down.

Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu's one-time right-hand man, is refusing to back either the prime minister or his rival, Benny Gantz, after an inconclusive general election left the Israeli premiership up in the air.

Lieberman, who leads the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu (Israel Our Home) party, said in a statement on Sunday that Netanyahu and Gantz should drop their "childish argument" and form a national unity government. He called on them to "flip a coin" to decide who serves as prime minister first.

The nearly-final general election results showed a deadlock between Gantz's Blue and White (33 provisional seats out of parliament's 120) and Netanyahu's Likud (31 seats) - well below the 61 needed to secure a majority in parliament. So the future of the Israeli government is in the hands of smaller players.

In a landmark move, the Joint List, a cluster of primarily Arab Israeli parties that is set to become the third-biggest power with 13 votes, has decided to back Benny Gantz in a bid to block Netanyahu from securing another term. Its demands for Gantz are said to include halting home demolitions in unrecognised Arab communities, cancelling the law that enshrines Israel as the exclusive nation-state of the Jewish people, and resuming a peace process with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

While Gantz has yet to comment on a potential deal, siding with the Joint List would still not grant him the much-coveted Knesset majority, and Avigdor Lieberman, with his 10 projected seats, could become the game-changer.

Netanyahu, for his part, has formed an alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties which would see him at some 55 seats in parliament. The incumbent prime minister has offered Gantz a rotating premiership as a compromise, but the latter feels he is in a stronger position and refuses to join a Netanyahu-led government.

Lieberman - the former defence chief who quit Netanyahu's cabinet due to his displeasure with a truce with Gaza's Hamas - said that he would only support a "broad, liberal" national unity government comprising Likud, Blue and White, and his own Yisrael Beytenu. That government, in his vision, should include neither the ultra-Orthodox parties that back Netanyahu nor Gantz's potential Arab allies.

"The Haredim [ultra-Orthodox] are political rivals, but not enemies. The Joint List are our enemies," he said on Sunday. "Wherever they are, we will be on the other side."

Lieberman is set to meet with Benny Gantz on Monday afternoon for talks.

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin earlier said that both Likud and Blue and White should be included in the future government as the two largest parties. Rivlin has invited Netanyahu and Gantz to meet at his residence on Monday to discuss the formation of a new government.

If no candidate is able to form a government, Israel would have to call another snap election, which would become its third this year.