TEL AVIV, December 28. /TASS/. The future Israeli cabinet will continue its efforts to strengthen peace with neighboring countries and develop relations with the countries that signed the Abraham Accords: Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud party, said on Wednesday.

He made the comment as he wrapped up putting together a government coalition following the November 1 elections.

"The cabinet will work to strengthen peace with all our neighbors, ensuring Israel’s security, historical and national interests. The cabinet will work to considerably deepen cooperation with the countries that signed the Abraham accords," he said on Twitter.

The new Israeli cabinet is scheduled to be sworn in on December 29. The government coalition, in addition to Likud, includes far-right Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism and Noam, as well as ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism.

In mid-December, Netanyahu said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television that the expansion of the Abraham Accords would contribute to the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. As another factor that could help to resolve the Palestinian question, he named the potential normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which, he said, would be a quantum leap for the common peace between Israel and the Arab countries. He said progress toward peace with Riyadh now depends on the kingdom.

In September 2020, Israel, with Netanyahu as then prime minister, signed accords to normalize relations with the UAE and Bahrain in a deal that had been mediated by the US. The West dubbed the trilateral agreement as the Abraham Accords. Sudan and Morocco later also agreed to normalize relations with Israel.

Before the peace pact with the UAE and Bahrain, the only Arab countries with which the Jewish state maintained diplomatic relations were Egypt and Jordan.