Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swore in his new unity government on Sunday, ending more than a year of political deadlock and another three-day delay.
The Knesset, Israel's parliament, passed a vote of confidence in Netanyahu's new administration to end over 500 days of upheaval.
Over the weekend, both Netanyahu and his rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz announced their appointments for the new government — the most bloated in Israeli history with an expected 36 cabinet ministers and 16 deputies.
Netanyahu and Gantz, a former military chief, announced last month they would be putting their differences aside to join forces to steer the country through the coronavirus crisis and its severe economic fallout.
Their controversial power-sharing deal calls for Netanyahu to serve as prime minister for the government’s first 18 months before being replaced by Gantz for the next 18 months. Their blocs will also have a similar number of ministers and mutual veto power over most major decisions.
Netanyahu said his government should apply Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements.
"The public wants a unity government and that's what the public is getting today," Netanyahu said at the start of the session in the Knesset in Jerusalem.
"It's time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism," Netanyahu said on the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Such a move is seen likely to cause international uproar and inflame tensions in the West Bank, home to nearly three million Palestinians and some 400,000 Israelis living in settlements considered illegal under international law.
Netanyahu told the chamber that annexation "won't distance us from peace, it will bring us closer".
But while Netanyahu has set July 1 as a starting point for cabinet discussions on the highly contentious issue, there is no publicly stated deadline for annexation of land that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
