Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has been fired by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cited a “crisis of trust” affecting the invasions of Gaza and Lebanon.
The announcement late on Tuesday came as a surprise, despite Netanyahu and Gallant having been repeatedly at odds over the last year.
Following the announcement, Gallant said on social media that the “security of the State of Israel was and will always remain the mission of my life”.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement: "In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and the minister of defence.
"Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister."
Foreign minister Israel Katz will succeed Gallant as defence minister, while Gideon Saar will become the new foreign minister, Netanyahu's office announced.
Gallant has been a key figure in Israel’s deadly 13-month onslaught in Gaza, which has seen more than 43,000 people killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The invasion came following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 in which 1,139 people were killed, according to Israeli authorities.
He was criticised early in the war after ordering a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip with “no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed”, in what was deemed by many to be collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Israel has also invaded Lebanon after a year of tit-for-tat strikes with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
In the statement, Netanyahu added that "significant gaps were discovered between me and Gallant in the management of the campaign".
"These gaps were accompanied by statements and actions that contradict the decisions of the government and the decisions of the cabinet,” he said.
The Israeli prime minister did not make clear what he was referring to. But Gallant recently made statements which appeared at odds with much of the rhetoric coming from the Israeli government, calling for “painful concessions” to be made to return Israeli hostages from Gaza.
“Not every objective can be achieved through military means alone; force is not the answer to everything,” Gallant said at a memorial day earlier this month for those killed in the October 7 attacks, according to Middle East Monitor.
“When it comes to fulfilling our ethical duty of bringing hostages home, painful concessions will be required,” he added.
Netanyahu’s previous attempt to fire Gallant in March 2023 prompted widespread street protests. It came after Gallant spoke out against his own government’s plans for judicial reform.
The reforms intended to limit the powers of the Supreme Court in blocking legislation pushed through by Netanyahu’s Likud government, which was in coalition with the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.
