Labor Party chairman Avi Gabbay spoke at party headquarters on Tuesday night, after television exit polls predicted a low number of seats for his party.
“The results of the exit polls are a terrible disappointment. An electoral blow to the Labor Party and a blow to everyone who shares our path," he said.
"We tried to be the best possible, to present practical solutions, but the political reality went in another direction. We knew we would need political connections - but there were no such connections."
"I hope that there will be a political change that might slightly alleviate the pain we suffered at the Labor Party. If, heaven forbid, we stay with Netanyahu as Prime Minister, then all our warnings in the past few weeks will be realized. I hope Gantz manages to form a government. We will do everything to help,” said the Labor leader.
Prior to his remarks, there was speculation that Gabbay would step down but he made no indication that he plans to do so.
MK Eitan Cabel attacked Gabbay earlier in the evening and called on him to resign immediately following the party's crash as reflected by the exit polls.
"The evening is the most difficult one in the history of my home. The Labor Party, a movement that established the state, crashed in all the exit polls and achieves the worst result in its history,” Cabel said.
"Gabbay kept his promise and knocked us down, the failure is registered to his name alone. He no longer has a mandate to run the party and must resign tonight," said Cabel, who was ranked in the 15th spot on the Labor Party list.