Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu fires Defence Minister Yoav Gallant 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and appointed Israel Katz to succeed him, triggering protests across the country.

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said he had lost confidence in Gallant over the management of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

“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 prime minister said in a statement issued by his office.

The statement added that the differences between Netanyahu and Gallant “grew wider” and became known by the public “in an unusual manner and, worse, became known to our enemies, who took pleasure in them and derived substantial benefit from them”.

Shortly afterwards, Gallant said in a post on X that working to ensure Israel’s security would “always remain the mission of my life”.

Netanyahu appointed Foreign Minister Israel Katz to succeed Gallant as defence minister, while Gideon Saar became the new foreign minister.

On X, Katz promised to “achieve the goals of the war” and return the captives held in Gaza as “the most important value mission”.

Within hours of the statement, thousands of protesters gathered in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, blocking the city’s main highway and lit a bonfire, as hundreds of protesters assembled in front of Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem. Protesters also blocked roads in several other locations across the country.

For months, there had been open disagreements between Netanyahu and Gallant, reflecting a wider split between Israel’s right-wing governing coalition and the military, which has long favoured reaching a deal to halt the assault on Gaza and bring home dozens of captives held by Hamas.

Gallant said the war lacked clear direction, while Netanyahu reiterated that fighting could not cease until Hamas was wiped out as a governing entity and military force in Gaza.

At least 43,391 people have been killed, and 102,347 others wounded in Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel began its war on Gaza after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics. About 250 others were seized as captives.

‘Poor set of priorities’

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrated Gallant’s dismissal on X and said “it is not possible to achieve absolute victory” with him in office.

Ben-Gvir had previously called for Gallant to be removed from his post.

In the United States, the Pentagon said Gallant had been a “trusted partner ” and reiterated that its support for Israel remains “ironclad” and the US will work “closely” with the new defence minister, Katz.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, said the decision could lead to a more “consolidated” government.

“[What] shows that this government will be more consolidated is the fact that when it comes to … the ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition – the Ben-Gvirs and [far-right Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotriches of the world – they will feel more at ease now that Gallant is not in government,” Bishara explained.

“That is not to say that he was some sort of a moderate. If anything, Gallant is even more fascistic, more violent than any of these religious fanatics. He’s not politically fanatic,” he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant visits an airbase near the city of Haifa in northern Israel on September 18, 2024 [Ariel Hermoni/Anadolu]

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents families of captives held in Gaza, condemned the move as an “effort to torpedo the hostage deal”.

“The dismissal of the defence minister is an unfortunate proof of the Israeli government’s poor set of priorities,” the Forum said on X in Hebrew.

It added that as “the military goals in the Gaza Strip have been achieved”, referencing the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh, Israel must now obtain a “comprehensive deal for the release of all the abductees and the end of the war”.

Yossi Beilin, former Israeli justice minister, told Al Jazeera that Gallant’s dismissal could be the “first step towards the dissolution of Netanyahu’s government”.

“He [Netanyahu] believes that he is not only the prime minister, but the minister in every portfolio, so that eventually it will be [solely] his decision,” Beilin explained.

Second dismissal

Shortly before Israel began its assault on Gaza, Netanyahu had dismissed Gallant due to disagreements over the government’s plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system, but after mass protests, the prime minister reinstated him.

In the course of the yearlong war on Gaza, Gallant and Netanyahu have continued to be at odds.

Last month, Israeli news outlets reported that Gallant had sent a letter to Netanyahu, senior cabinet ministers and top officials from the military, the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security agency, saying that Israel’s war efforts had to be “refocused”.

“Significant developments in the war, especially Israel and Iran trading direct blows, raise the necessity of holding a discussion and updating the war’s goals with a comprehensive look,” Gallant reportedly wrote.

In response to the letter, Netanyahu’s office argued that it was “bizarre”, adding that, “there is a single compass, and that is the war aims as determined by the cabinet”.

“They are examined all the time, and have even been recently expanded,” it added.

Gallant had also previously pushed back on discussion of plans for Israeli rule over Gaza and supported a captive deal, which had put him at odds with far-right members of Netanyahu’s government.

The move also comes a day after Gallant approved the Israeli army’s recommendation to send 7,000 army draft orders to ultra-Orthodox men and as Netanyahu deals with police probes into a series of leaks from the Israeli military about its war on Gaza.