Government of Israel

Overview

The Government of Israel is the national government of the State of Israel. Its current incarnation is the country’s 37th government, formed in December 2022 and headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a third stint as premier for the veteran Likud leader after a year and a half in opposition, following 12 consecutive years in office and an earlier term from 1996 to 1999 (The Times of Israel). In world news the government most often appears as a headline actor — the Israeli side of the Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas and the U.S.-backed Board of Peace — while the coalition arithmetic that keeps it in power gets far less attention (Al Jazeera; Foundation for Defense of Democracies). That structure is the under-covered story: a 64-seat coalition built from Likud, two ultra-Orthodox parties, and three far-right religious factions, governing through a 32-member cabinet (The Times of Israel).

The 37th government and its coalition

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has 120 seats. In the November 1, 2022 general election, Netanyahu’s bloc won 64 of them, and after weeks of negotiations he presented his ministers at the Knesset ahead of the December swearing-in (The Times of Israel). The coalition combined his Likud party with two ultra-Orthodox parties and three far-right religious factions (The Times of Israel). The cabinet as presented had 32 members, just six of them women — compared with nine women in the previous 27-minister government (The Times of Israel). The oldest minister was 75-year-old Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter of Likud, a former head of the Shin Bet security service, and the youngest was 30-year-old Yitzhak Wasserlauf of Otzma Yehudit, the minister for the development of the Negev and the Galilee (The Times of Israel). At 73, Netanyahu was the cabinet’s second-oldest member (The Times of Israel).

Key portfolios

The portfolios reflected the coalition’s balance of power. Yoav Gallant, a former top general, took defense at the government’s formation; Eli Cohen became foreign minister in a rotation arrangement with Israel Katz, the longtime Likud minister (The Times of Israel). Yariv Levin took justice, where he was expected to oversee judicial reforms aimed at reducing court oversight and expanding the Knesset’s control over judicial appointments (The Times of Israel). Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party became finance minister while also serving as a minister within the Defense Ministry, a position giving him authority over civil affairs in the West Bank, including settlement construction (The Times of Israel). Itamar Ben Gvir of Otzma Yehudit took the newly formed National Security Ministry — an expanded Public Security Ministry with unprecedented powers over the Israel Police, plus direct supervision of the entire Border Police including its West Bank units (The Times of Israel). Shas leader Aryeh Deri became interior and health minister and a deputy prime minister, under a rotation deal that would hand him the finance ministry after two years (The Times of Israel). Shas’s other portfolios went to Ya’akov Margi at welfare — due to hand over to fellow Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur after two years — Michael Malchieli at religious affairs, and Haim Biton within the Education Ministry (The Times of Israel). United Torah Judaism took housing and construction under Yitzhak Goldknopf, who had been set to become the first ultra-Orthodox member of the top-level security cabinet before withdrawing from that role, and a rebranded Jerusalem, tradition, and Mount Meron ministry under Meir Porush (The Times of Israel). Religious Zionism’s Orit Strock took the newly created national missions ministry, with powers over West Bank settlements, national service, and pre-military academies, while Ofir Sofer took immigration and absorption and Otzma Yehudit’s Amichai Eliyahu became heritage minister (The Times of Israel).

The government in the Gaza ceasefire talks

By 2026 the government was the Israeli counterpart in the implementation of President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan. Both Hamas and Israel had agreed to the ceasefire deal the previous October, but Israel continued its bombardment of the territory, and in August 2026 Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Hamas officials and Netanyahu in an effort to resolve the crisis (Al Jazeera). The sticking point, as the Foundation for Defense of Democracies reported in September 2026, was sequencing: Netanyahu insisted Hamas surrender its weapons before Israeli forces withdrew, while the proposed framework linked disarmament to a phased withdrawal (Foundation for Defense of Democracies).

That September the friction played out in public. Defense Minister Israel Katz — who by then held the defense portfolio — said Trump had only “frozen” rather than cancelled his support for removing Palestinians from Gaza, calling migration the only real solution; National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir echoed him the next day (Al Jazeera). The U.S. State Department publicly rejected the idea, restating the plan’s Point 12 — that no one would be forced to leave Gaza — and Point 20, committing Washington to a dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians on a political horizon for peaceful coexistence (Al Jazeera). Israel had already rejected an August proposal pairing Hamas disarmament with gradual Israeli withdrawal, saying it would make no concessions until Gaza was fully demilitarized (Al Jazeera).

Meanwhile the U.S.-backed Board of Peace unveiled a $2.45 billion, six-month Gaza recovery plan on September 23, 2026, covering 66 projects across infrastructure, housing, healthcare, economic recovery, and security, with representatives of 35 countries and international organizations attending the meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (Foundation for Defense of Democracies). Board officials acknowledged that negotiations with Israel remained difficult ahead of the October 27 Israeli election, with one official saying political considerations had made discussions more sensitive (Foundation for Defense of Democracies). The recovery plan’s reconstruction strategy, outlined by NCAG chief Ali Shaath, was to begin in Rafah and expand to Khan Younis, central Gaza, Gaza City, and northern Gaza as security conditions permitted (Foundation for Defense of Democracies). Two days after the plan’s unveiling, the Board of Peace reaffirmed that the UN relief agency UNRWA would have no role in its Gaza reconstruction framework (Foundation for Defense of Democracies). On September 24 Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly, defending Israel’s campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, rejecting allegations of genocide in Gaza, and rejecting Palestinian statehood under present circumstances — as dozens of delegates walked out, prompting him to call them “moral cowards” (Foundation for Defense of Democracies).

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not claim to describe the current cabinet seat by seat: ministerial lineups shifted after the December 2022 swearing-in — Katz, for instance, moved from the energy portfolio to defense — and the only fully verified post-2022 detail here is his defense role as of September 2026. It does not take a position on the legality or feasibility of the displacement proposals discussed in September 2026; it reports the statements and the U.S. response. Figures on Israeli military operations in Gaza are reported as Israel’s own claims via the cited analysis, not independently verified. The October 27 election date is reported as stated by the cited source’s Board of Peace officials.