Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sent a letter on Thursday morning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructing him to dismiss Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri and appoint alternative ministers in his stead.

Her letter follows Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling disqualifying the Shas chairman from serving as a minister in government.

Netanyahu himself may not assume either of the two portfolios due to the ongoing legal proceedings against him which prohibit him from serving as a minister. A solution some bruited that suggested Deri could be appointed Alternate Prime Minister was shot down by Knesset legal advisers, who said that such a move was impossible unless the government first dissolved itself and then reconstituted itself according to the law permitting two alternate premiers during the same term.