Netanyahu (R) and Gantz sign coalition agreement
Netanyahu (R) and Gantz sign coalition agreementSpokesman

More than 500 days after the dissolution of the 20th Knesset and the beginning of the ongoing election campaign, the 35th government is expected to be sworn in this evening 24 hours after the majority of coalition agreements were presented to the Knesset, marking the first transition government in history.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will stand at the head, and the alternate prime minister, who will also serve as defense minister, will be Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz.

Although Likud's distribution of posts progressed yesterday, Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz has yet to inform his party members about distributing posts, and thus the picture of the emerging government, the largest in Israeli history, is still unclear.

However, as of this morning, much of the government can already be envisioned, partly after the Likud-Gesher coalition agreement was signed last night that states Orly Levi-Abucasis will head the "Community Strengthening and Promotion Office", to consist of a number of projects culled from the Internal Security Ministry.

Likud's top minister in the government to be sworn in tonight will be Finance Minister Yisrael Katz. Former Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein will be appointed Health Minister, Amir Ohana will be appointed Internal Security Minister, Miri Regev will probably be Transport Minister, and Ze'ev Elkin will continue as Environmental Protection Minister to be joined by Ofir Akunis in a Regional Cooperation Office.

The most senior minister of Blue and White will be Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. Avi Nissenkorn will be appointed Justice Minister, Yehiel Tropper will be Culture Minister and Assaf Zamir will be appointed Tourism Minister. Merav Cohen will be Social Equality Minister, Pnina Tamano Shata will be Immigration and Absorption Minister, Alon Schuster will be Agriculture Minister and Omar Yankelevich will apparently be appointed Diaspora Minister. Michael Biton will be appointed Strategy and Minority Affairs Minister and Izhar Shai will be Science and Space Minister.

Yoaz Hendel will serve as Communications Minister on behalf of the Derech Eretz faction.

On behalf of the Labor Party, two ministers will serve in the government: Amir Peretz will be Economy Minister and Itzik Shmuli will be Labor and Welfare Minister.

Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri will serve as Interior, Negev and Galilee Minister, and Rabbi Yaakov Avitan, an unknown figure in national politics, will be appointed by the party as Religious Affairs Minister.

Construction Minister will be United Torah Judaism Chairman Yaakov Litzman.

This represents only a partial list, and many question marks remain until the government presents its full assembly tonight by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.