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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after months of disputes over Israel's domestic politics and war effort.

In a recorded statement Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said that “trust between me and the defense minister has been broken.”

Israel Katz, currently foreign minister, will become defense minister. Gideon Sa'ar will replace Katz as foreign minister, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday. Neither has extensive military experience, although Katz served in the Cabinet throughout the war.

The move came as voters in the United States, Israel's main ally, voted for their next president. Gallant is a close interlocutor of the US government and is said to have had daily discussions with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The reshuffle also comes as Israel awaits a possible retaliatory attack from Iran.

Gallant responded to the decision shortly after it was published, posting on X that “the security of Israel has been and always will be my lifelong mission.”

Netanyahu said Tuesday that he had made “many attempts” to bridge differences with Gallant, but that they had “continued to escalate” and “became public in an unacceptable way.” He continued: “Worse, they learned of the enemy – our enemies enjoyed it and profited greatly from it.”

Israel's political class has long speculated that Netanyahu would fire Gallant and replace him with a political ally to bolster his power at home. Netanyahu has struggled to control his fragile right-wing ruling coalition and its tangle of competing interests, the collapse of which could spell the end of his leadership.

When Netanyahu first tried to fire Gallant last year over his opposition to proposed judicial reforms, it sparked mass demonstrations across the country. Minutes after Netanyahu made the announcement, opposition leaders called on Israelis to take to the streets in protest.

There were demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Demonstrators outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem chanted “Shame!” In Tel Aviv, demonstrators blocked a main road while families of hostages held in Gaza chanted “Bibi is a traitor,” using the prime minister's nickname.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is still in Gaza, said in a statement that firing Gallant “during a war and appointing a yes-man who lacks security experience in his place sends a clear message – no one will stand up.” to Netanyahu and stop him from torpedoing deals and prolonging the war.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called it an “act of madness.”

“Netanyahu is selling out Israel’s security and IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers for his despicable political survival,” Lapid posted on X on Tuesday.

Conflicts about the war and domestic politics

The relationship between the two men was rarely cordial and often caustic. There was little agreement between them – about the status of negotiations with Hamas, Israel's military strategy and Netanyahu's attempt to bring about comprehensive judicial reform in 2023.

Netanyahu and Gallant often disagreed about the war in Gaza. In August, Gallant told a closed session of the Knesset committee that Netanyahu's goal of “absolute victory” in Gaza was “nonsense,” according to Israeli media. Netanyahu then took the extraordinary step of releasing a press statement accusing Gallant of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative.”

Gallant was also highly critical of Netanyahu's focus on controlling the border between Gaza and Egypt, the so-called Philadelphi Corridor. He said it was a “moral disgrace” to prioritize its control over a ceasefire and hostage-taking agreement. In the cabinet he voted against further appointments there. “If we want the hostages to live, we don’t have time,” he said.

But domestic politics may ultimately have played the biggest role.

Netanyahu was forced on Tuesday to withdraw a bill that would have allowed ultra-Orthodox Israelis to receive government subsidies for day care centers even if the children's father does not serve in the Israel Defense Forces, as all other Jewish Israelis must. Netanyahu relies on ultra-Orthodox parties to govern, and they have threatened to topple his coalition if they are forced into military service en masse.

Gallant had strongly opposed the idea of ​​exempting ultra-Orthodox Israelis from military service, saying that “the security system under my leadership will not legislate this.”

Sa'ar, whom Netanyahu nominated as foreign minister, is considered an influential interlocutor for the ultra-Orthodox parties. Netanyahu said in his statement that Sa'ar's appointment “will strengthen the stability of the coalition and the stability of the government, and these are very important at any time, but especially in times of war.”

Also on Tuesday, Israeli police announced that a criminal investigation had been opened “into events early in the war,” without providing further details.

Gallant has repeatedly called for an official investigation into the October 7 Hamas attack. It is the second investigation this week that threatens to ensnare Netanyahu. On Sunday, a court announced that police had arrested a senior Netanyahu aide for allegedly leaking classified and falsified intelligence information to foreign media.

Netanyahu has been under pressure from far-right members of his cabinet to fire him. On Tuesday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir congratulated Netanyahu and accused Gallant of being an obstacle to “total victory.”

Netanyahu's relationship with Gallant soured when the prime minister threatened to fire him in March 2023 after he criticized the government's justice reform legislation. The bill, which sparked widespread popular protests in Israel, would have given the ruling coalition more influence in selecting judges.

Gallant was the first minister to speak out against it, saying: “The increasing division is seeping into the military and security agencies – this is a clear, immediate and real danger to Israel's security. “I will not enable that.”

Netanyahu said he would fire the defense minister but changed his position under pressure. The rancor between the two men has continued and grown since the Hamas attack last October.

This is a developing story and will be updated.