Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a surprise deal with the opposition Kadima party on Tuesday, agreeing to form a national unity government and dropping plans for a snap election

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a surprise deal with the opposition Kadima party on Tuesday, agreeing to form a national unity government and dropping plans for a snap election, AFP reported.
  
The agreement to form what will be “Israel's seventh national unity government”, will be put to a vote in the Knesset later on Tuesday, parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin told army radio.
  
It means that Netanyahu will head Israel's largest-ever coalition and be able to count on a majority of 94 votes in the 120-seat assembly.
  
Under terms of the agreement, Shaul Mofaz, who took over leadership of the centre-right Kadima party only six weeks ago, would become vice prime minister as well as a minister within the premier's bureau in the new cabinet, according to the draft of the deal seen by AFP.
  
Mofaz will be sworn on Wednesday, press reports said, suggesting he could also take over the portfolio of “homefront defense”.
  
The two men negotiated the 11th-hour deal as the Knesset was voting on a motion to end its current session to clear the way for an early election that Netanyahu himself had said he wanted.