who is the “interim prime minister” –

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo hernia surgery this evening requiring anesthesia. This was announced by Netanyahu’s office himself, explaining that his deputy, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin, will assume the duties of interim prime minister. The move will take place following this evening’s war cabinet meeting. Netanyahu’s hernia was discovered yesterday following a routine check-up. Last July, Netanyahu underwent heart surgery, where a pacemaker was implanted following an illness. Precisely for this evening, the start of a four-day protest once morest the government is scheduled in Jerusalem, in which the families of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip will also participate for the first time, and which aims to obtain an agreement from the political class on the release of prisoners and the calling of new elections.

Israel is “disappointed” by the mediation that Qatar is conducting to try to obtain the release of the hostages in exchange for the six-week ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. And for this reason he sent a medium-level delegation to Cairo to evaluate whether the head of the Mossad David Barnea and the head of the Shin Bet Ronen Bar should participate in the talks in the next few days. An Israeli official said this on condition of anonymity to the Times of Israel newspaper. Qatari mediators are “not putting enough pressure on Hamas”, the official argued as talks resumed in Egypt. On the issues on the table and on the flexibility on prisoners to be released that Israel is willing to mediate, the source clarified that “we will not allow Hamas to re-establish itself in the north”.