Netanyahu fires Israeli Defence Minister amid 'crisis of trust' - as war rages on

Israeli Prime Minister has fired his defence minister Yoav Gallant due to a "crisis of trust".

Netanyahu said trust had "eroded" after "significant gaps" were discovered in the management of

In a statement, Netanyahu said: "In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister. 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."

He claimed gaps in the management of the campaign were "accompanied by statements and actions that contradict the decisions of the government and the decisions of the cabinet".

Netanyahu said he "made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider", adding "our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it".

In a statement on X, Gallant said: "The security of the state of always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."

Foreign Minister Israel Katz will replace him, and Gideon Saar will take over Katz's role.

There has long been a disjoint between Gallant's and Netanyahu's positions on the sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023. In recent weeks, Israel also opened another war front against Lebanon's Hezbollah, a terror group economically backed by Iran that's been supporting Hamas since last year.

At a news conference in Kirya in May, Gallant called on Netanyahu to pull back their presence in Gaza, which the Prime Minister rejected.

Gallant said: "I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza Strip, that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza Strip, that Israel will not establish military governance in the Gaza Strip, and that a governing alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip will be raised immediately."

About an hour later, Netanyahu disagreed with Gallant, stating: "I am not willing to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan. The first condition for 'the day after' is to eliminate Hamas - and do it without excuses."

A previous attempt by the Prime Minister to fire Gallant over a disagreement on plans to overhaul the justice system led to widespread street protests in March last year.