Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is demanding the Communications Ministry or the Culture and Sports Ministry from the Blue and White party in exchange for the Health Ministry, Kan 11 News reported on Tuesday evening.
At this point, Blue and White has refused the demand, according to the report.
In addition, according to Kan News, the Likud is demanding that the Minister of Health on behalf of Blue and White be appointed in coordination with Netanyahu. Officials involved in the negotiations told the channel that the negotiations will likely be completed at the last minute, before the government is sworn in.
Last week it was reported that Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz is seeking to appoint a professional as Health Minister, with two of the names under consideration being Professor Yitzhak Kreis, director of the Sheba Medical Center, and Professor Ronni Gamzu, CEO of the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Blue and White, according to that report, is ready to "pay" for the Health Ministry by relinquishing some of the smaller ministries it was to receive as part of the coalition agreement, but not the Foreign Ministry, which the Likud has demanded in exchange for the Ministry of Health.
Current Health Minister Yaakov Litzman recently informed Netanyahu that he would leave his post when the next government is formed and asked to be appointed Housing Minister instead.
Litzman later explained that he thought it was the right time to leave the Health Ministry as he had seen saw that the coronavirus situation in Israel had improved.