Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during the General Debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

JERUSALEM, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that he will run for office again in the 2026 parliamentary elections.

He made the announcement during an interview with Israel's Channel 14, where he was asked if he intends to seek another term. "Yes," he replied.

When asked whether he expects to win, Netanyahu said, "Yes."

In the last Israeli elections in 2022, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party won 32 seats and he was recommended by 64 members of the 120-seat Israeli parliament, or Knesset, to be qualified to form a government. Netanyahu was sworn in as the country's prime minister in December of that year, and has been leading an extreme-right coalition ever since.

Netanyahu will turn 76 next week. He served as Israel's prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021, before being ousted in June 2021 by a centrist coalition formed by Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.