Israel: Netanyahu dismisses defense minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant due to a loss of confidence during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli head of state's office reported.

Netanyahu had already considered dismissing Gallant on several occasions last year, but held back due to public criticism.

In a video posted on the social networking site X, Netanyahu stated, "My supreme commitment as prime minister of Israel is to protect Israel's security and lead us to total victory." He added: "In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust between the prime minister and the defense minister is required."

"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 defense minister," Netanyahu explained. He added: "Between Gallant and I there arose significant differences in the management of the campaign, and these differences were accompanied by statements and actions that contradicted government and cabinet decisions."

"I made many efforts to close these gaps, but they kept getting wider. 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," Netanyahu asserted.

After being removed from his position, Gallant expressed himself briefly on the social network X. "The security of the State of Israel was and will always remain my life's mission," he said.