Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sacked his Defence Minister over a breakdown in trust during the Gaza war against Hamas, his office said today.
'Over the past few months that trust has eroded. In light of this, I decided today to end the term of the defence minister,' the PM said in a statement issued by his office.
Yoav Gallant, who only returned to the post in April after being sacked last March, will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the office reported.
Hundreds took to the streets to protest in a march through Tel Aviv as news broke of the decision, Haaretz reports.
The mother of a hostage said: 'Gallant's dismissal sends a clear message - there is no one left to prevent the foiling of hostage deal; it's time to take to the streets.'
Netanyahu posted on social media after issuing the statement, writing on Twitter/X: 'We must all stand strong against refusal.'
Gallant broke his silence to say: 'The security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission'.
Netanyahu said in his video statement that in spite 'fruitful work' with Gallant at the beginning of the war in Gaza, trust had 'cracked' in recent months.
'I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider,' he continued.
'They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy — our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it.
Gideon Sa'ar will replace Katz as Foreign Minister.