The Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition lost a parliamentary vote Wednesday for the first time since taking office with a knife-edge majority in May.

The Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition lost a parliamentary vote Wednesday for the first time since taking office with a knife-edge majority in May.

The vote, on a technical issue regarding jurisdiction of state bailiffs, did not directly challenge the government's survival but highlighted the challenge of governance with the coalition commanding just 61 seats in the 120-member legislature.

"Netanyahu's coalition of 61 is unable to function," MP Karin Elharrar of the opposition Yesh Atid (Hebrew translation of "There is future") party and sponsor of the private member's bill, said in a statement.

The draft must still pass three more readings before it can become law but it showed the government caught off guard by a united opposition ambush.

"We carried out a classic ambush," opposition leader Isaac Herzog told Zionist public radio.

In the March 17 general election Likud won 30 seats, while Herzog's Zionist Union won 24.