’Crisis of trust’: Benjamin Netanyahu fires Defence Minister Yoav Gallant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a shock decision more than a year into Israel’s war on Palestine.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over a “crisis of trust” between the men during the country’s war against Hamas, his office said.

“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office late on Tuesday local time.

“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.

“Over the past few months that trust has eroded.“

Mr Gallant, a former general, has been replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who has “already proven his abilities and his contribution to national security”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant (L). Picture: Debbie Hill/Pool/AFP

The two men have frequently clashed over Israel’s retaliatory military offensive against Hamas following the Palestinian military group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

Its ongoing campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Since late September, Israel has broadened the focus of its war to Lebanon, where it escalated a campaign against Hamas ally Hezbollah following nearly a year of cross-border fire.

In his statement, Mr Netanyahu said he had made “many attempts” to bridge the differences between himself and his Likud party colleague.

“But they kept getting wider,” he continued.

“These divisions even reached public knowledge in an unusual manner and, worse, became known to our enemies, who took pleasure in them and derived substantial benefit from them.

Mr Gallant said that the ‘security’ of Israel ‘was and will always remain the mission of my life’. Picture: Jacquelyn Martin/POOL/AFP

The gaps between himself and Mr Gallant ‘kept getting wider’, Mr Netanyahu said. Picture: Jack Guez/POOL/Getty Images

“The growing breach of trust between the Defence Minister and me has become public, preventing the normal continuation of our campaign management.

“In light of this, I have decided to end the Defence Minister’s tenure.”

In a post on X minutes after news of his dismissal broke, Mr Gallant wrote that the “security of the State of Israel was and will always remain the mission of my life”.

A previous attempt by Mr Netanyahu to fire Mr Gallant in March last year led to widespread street protests against the Prime Minister.