JERUSALEM: Israel’s ex-military chief Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, submitted himself on Thursday as a candidate for speaker of parliament, a move that could lead to an emergency alliance between the two men.
The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, declared on its website that Gantz was the only candidate to succeed Netanyahu ally Yuli Edelstein, who resigned as speaker under pressure on Wednesday.
A formal vote electing Gantz is expected later on Thursday.
A staunch ally of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, has committed to backing Gantz as speaker.
A source from Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party, who requested anonymity, told AFP that the party leader’s bid to become speaker was part of an effort to form an emergency government with Likud.
Israel has been mired in a crippling political crisis that has seen the country hold three inconclusive elections in less than a year.
Gantz was tasked with forming a government following the last vote on March 2, but there was no guarantee he would succeed, given the deep divisions within the anti-Netanyahu camp.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has seen more than 2,600 Israelis infected, there have been widespread calls for an alliance between Netanyahu and Gantz.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday blacklisted 20 Iran- and Iraq-based companies, officials and individuals, accusing them of supporting terrorist groups and ramping up pressure on Tehran even as the Islamic Republic battles the coronavirus outbreak.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement that the individuals and entities supported Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its elite foreign paramilitary and espionage arm, the Quds Force, as well as transferred lethal aid to Iran-backed militias in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl Al-Haq.
Treasury said the people and entities were involved in smuggling weapons to Iraq and Yemen and selling US-blacklisted Iranian oil to the Syrian government, among other activities.
The sanctions freeze any US-held assets of those designated and generally bar Americans from doing business with them.
“Iran employs a web of front companies to fund terrorist groups across the region, siphoning resources away from the Iranian people and prioritizing terrorist proxies over the basic needs of its people,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.

ANKARA: Turkey could order the public to stay at home if coronavirus infections continue to spread, the government said on Thursday as it clamped down further on medical equipment leaving the country.
The government announced such a measure for people older than 65 over the weekend, but not for the general public as some other countries have done.
Istanbul’s mayor urged national authorities to do so on Thursday, saying nearly a million people were still using public transportation in the country’s largest city.
The highly contagious respiratory disease has killed 59 in Turkey after cases surged in two weeks to 2,433.
“Complete social isolation is always on our agenda,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on AHaber TV. Asked whether a complete curfew would be announced, he said: “If we cannot prevent the epidemic with these measures, we can of course take the highest measure.”
To contain the virus, Ankara has closed schools, cafes and bars, banned mass prayers, and suspended sports matches and flights. President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey, which has a population of about 83 million, would overcome the coronavirus outbreak in two to three weeks.
However, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu called on the government to impose a general stay-at-home order, at least in his city if it was not possible nationwide.
“We are in the most critical phase of the outbreak,” he said on Twitter. “If the necessary steps aren’t taken today, it is evident there will be disappointment in the future.”
Separately on Thursday, the government decreed that companies now need permission from authorities to export medical tools used for respiratory support, given rising domestic demand.
The rule covers the export ventilators and related gear, oxygen concentrators, intubation tubes and intensive care monitors, and other medical equipment. Ankara previously said it would stop exporting locally made face masks.
Turkey’s Higher Education Council said there would be no face-to-face classes in the spring term, distance learning would continue and university exams would be postponed to July 25-26.
Separately the central government said all municipality meetings in April, May and June, should be postponed except under extraordinary circumstances.

DUBAI: The UAE will take part in the G20 summit chaired by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said in a tweet on Thursday.
“In the spirit of global solidarity, the UAE takes part in today’s G20 summit chaired by the His Majesty King Salman of Saudi Arabia. We face an unprecedented challenge in COVID-19, and the people of the world anticipate this meeting to result in effective international measures,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman said on Wednesday in a tweet that the G20 major economies will hold an exceptional summit to plan initiatives that can help combat the pandemic.
“As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges to healthcare systems and the global economy, we convene this extraordinary G20 summit to unite efforts towards a global response,” he said.

DUBAI: Oman has reported 10 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of cases to 109, Omani press reported on Thursday.
Oman’s health ministry also reported the recovery of 20 patients.
“Our goal was to achieve a slowdown in the spread of infections and this is what we were able to do,” the health ministry said in statement.
Seven out of the 109 cases are in intensive care unit, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, the ministry said more than 3,000 patients have been tested for the new coronavirus.
“We have received more than 3,000 checks since the beginning of the discovery of the first case in the Sultanate of Covid-19,” Dr. Amina Jardaniah, the Director of the Central Public Health Laboratories Department, said.
The Ministry also said there were no record of local transmission in the first three weeks. But 26 cases of local transmissions were recorded in the fourth week due to contact with previous cases.