Israel struck central Beirut overnight; the leader of Hamas in Lebanon killed in the south of the country

Gideon Saar, former minister and rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, joined the Israeli government on Sunday, allowing the prime minister to expand his majority with the support of four additional deputies. MM. Netanyahu and Saar formalized their reconciliation during a brief ceremony at government headquarters, broadcast on television, during which Mr. Saar, who inherits a post of minister without portfolio, clarified that he was joining the executive “without coalition agreement”.

The return of Mr. Saar to the cabinet allows Mr. Netanyahu to benefit from a majority of 68 deputies out of 120 in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and therefore, numerically, to do without the support of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir (far right), whose Otzma Yehudit party has five deputies.

For several weeks, Mr. Ben Gvir has been increasing threats to bring down the government in the event of a truce agreement with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip or with Hezbollah in Lebanon.