Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant sacked by Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defence minister Yoav Gallant as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
Netanyahu said there is "crisis of trust" between them.
He said in a statement that his trust in Gallant had "eroded" in recent months.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz will replace Gallant, Netanyahu added.
Gallant posted on social media that the "security of the state of Israel was and will always remain the mission of my life".
He is a longtime rival of Netanyahu within the Likud Party but the two came together for the war effort following the October 7 Hamas attack.
In a letter released by his office, Netanyahu tells Gallant: “Your tenure will end 48 hours from the receipt of this letter.
“I would like to thank you for your service as defense minister.
Gideon Sa’ar will replace Katz as foreign minister.
“Unfortunately, although in the first months of the war there was trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the Defense Minister,” says Netanyahu in a video statement.
He says they disagreed on the management of the war and claimed that Gallant made decisions and statements that contradict cabinet decisions.
Netanyahu also accuses Gallant of indirectly aiding Israel’s enemies, according to the Times of Israel.
“I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider,” he said. “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.”