A month after losing the premiership and after over 12 consecutive years in power, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his family left the Prime Minister's Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem early Sunday.
Ahead of their departure, several moving trucks were sighted at the house on Balfour Street, with the family leaving shortly before midnight in line with a deadline agreed upon last month with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The Netanyahus will now move to their home in Ceaserea until their home at the capital's Gaza Street will be renovated, where the Likud leader and his family lived before he was re-elected as prime minister in 2009.
The Prime Minister's Residence, located at the corner of Smolenskin and Balfour streets in the upscale Rehavia neighborhood of Israel's capital city, will be officially handed to Bennett.
The newly-elected premier is not expected to move in to Balfour, but instead, keep residing with his family at their home in Ra'anana. Bennett will reportedly stay at Balfour during the week, hosting meetings and official events.
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The Netanyahu family leaving the Prime Minister's Residence late Saturday
(Photo: Amir Frankel)
The Shin Bet domestic security agency will reportedly be making security upgrades to the Balfour residence at a cost of between NIS 10–15 million.
The Jerusalem building has been the official residence of Israeli prime ministers since 1974.
It had become a symbol of the Netanyahus' scandals, and was the scene of weekly protests against Netanyahu for much of the past year. Demonstrators called on the then-prime minister to resign while on trial for corruption. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and refused to step down.