Israelis vote in third Knesset election in a year

Israel is holding its third election in less than a year, with over 6.4 million eligible voters set to cast their ballots for the 23rd Knesset.

There are more than 10,800 polling stations across Israel. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. Monday with exit polls expected at the end of the voting day at 10 p.m. (20:00 GMT).

Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main challenger, Benny Gantz, were able to put together majority coalitions following the last two elections, BBC reported.

Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, having been in office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009. In December, he comfortably won a primary election for leadership of his right-wing Likud party.

His main opponent in the general election is Benny Gantz, a retired general who served as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) before entering politics to lead the centrist Blue and White party.