Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has invited newly elected Yair Lapid to visit Ramallah.

According to a report on Ynet news, the Palestinian leader intends to accelerate peace talks with Israel’s centre and left parties.

Reports suggest that Mr Lapid, whose party Yesh Atid won 19 Knesset seats on Tuesday, is the first politician to receive an invite.

His party is now the second-largest in Israel. Peace talks were part of Mr Lapid's platform but not the focus of his campaign. Instead the party’s key message was that religions sections of Israeli society should share the tax and defence burden.