JERUSALEM/Anadolu

The Israeli Knesset has approved its dissolution in preparation for general elections scheduled for October 27.

The official broadcasting authority said on Friday that "the Knesset plenum approved last night, in second and third readings, the Political Parties Financing Bill, which includes a clause dissolving the 25th Knesset."

It added: "The bill, presented by the Knesset Committee, was supported by 62 members, with no votes against or abstentions."

It continued: "Under the decision, the Knesset enters an election recess until the date of the next Knesset elections, officially set for October 27, 2026."

Prior to the vote on dissolving the Knesset, lawmakers passed a series of laws on the agenda, including extending mandatory military service to 32 months, under a temporary order supported by Knesset members from ultra-Orthodox parties, according to the authority.

According to the amendment, the reduction of service to 30 months, which was supposed to apply to those drafted in July 2024 and expected to be discharged in January 2027, will be postponed to apply to draftees of June 2029, expected to be discharged in January 2032.

It added that the bill's explanation attributed the extension of mandatory service to the immediate need to meet the army's goals and existing security needs.

The upcoming elections will be the first since 1988 to be held on schedule, after the current Knesset completed a full 4-year term.

The current Knesset is the 25th since the declaration of the establishment of Israel in 1948 on lands occupied by armed Zionist gangs that committed massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians.

Later, Tel Aviv occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories and refuses to withdraw from them and to establish the Palestinian state stipulated in relevant UN resolutions.