Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Israeli leader announced Tuesday.

Netanyahu cited significant differences between their views on how to proceed in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as a lack of trust between the two. Netanyahu's office shared a letter written in Hebrew that was delivered to Gallant on Tuesday informing him of his removal.

“In the midst of war, absolute trust between the prime minister and the defense minister is needed more than ever,” Netanyahu said. “Although this trust existed in the first few months of the military operation and we had a very productive collaboration, unfortunately this trust between me and the Minister of Defense began to crumble in the last few months.”

“I made several attempts to resolve these differences, but they continued to grow. They were also inappropriately brought to the attention of the public, and what is worse, they came to the attention of the enemy; of our enemies “We took great pleasure in these differences of opinion and gained great benefit from them,” he added.

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Netanyahu later announced that the country's foreign minister, Israel Katz, would replace Gallant as defense minister.

“The security of the State of Israel has been and remains my life’s mission,” Gallant said in a statement after his firing on Tuesday.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned Gallant's dismissal in a statement.

“Netanyahu is betraying Israel’s security and IDF fighters [his own] shameful political survival. The ultra-right government prefers that [draft] “Impostors against those who serve,” Lapid accused – and called on his party’s supporters and “all Zionist patriots to take to the streets in protest this evening,” he wrote on social media.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to the press after being fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Shira Keinan/MoD)

In later remarks to the media, Gallant said that he and Netanyahu disagreed on three issues; the conscription of Haredi men into the army, the return of the hostages to their homeland and a state commission of inquiry into the intelligence failures in the October 7 attacks.

On the need for a commission, he said: “We must draw lessons and draw conclusions from a thorough investigation of events.”. When discussing the national level – the political, defense, military level and the need to uncover the truth and learn lessons, there is only one way: the establishment of a state commission of inquiry.”

Protesters angry over the decision to fire Gallant took to the streets and gathered in Tel Aviv and outside Netanyahu's private residence in Jerusalem.

Demonstrators angered by Prime Minister Netanyahu's firing of Defense Minister Gallant stormed outside the prime minister's private apartment in Jerusalem to protest. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)

Israeli NGO Movement for Quality Government in Israel echoed Lapid's condemnation, calling the move a “serious blow to national security.”

The move comes as Israel is embroiled in multiple conflicts, fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and delivering wide-ranging strikes with Iran.

Netanyahu warned Iran last week that Israel could target Tehran's nuclear program if the country carries out another attack on Israel.

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a broadcast following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. (Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The ultimate goal that I have set for the IDF and the security services is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said during his speech at a course graduation ceremony for soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). “Stopping the nuclear program was and is our main concern.”

“I have not lost sight of this goal, we have not and we will not lose sight of it,” he added.

Netanyahu's suggestion that Israel could target Iranian nuclear facilities next is consistent with other comments from the IDF, which vowed to expand its attack “capabilities” and target list should Iran launch another attack on the Jewish state.

The US – Israel's most important ally in the fight against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran – has repeatedly warned Jerusalem rejects attacks on Iran's energy infrastructureparticularly its nuclear and oil facilities, for fear that this could trigger an outright regional war.

Israeli forces monitor activities in the Gaza Strip. (IDF)

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Reports last week suggested Iran may wait until after the U.S. presidential election.

Fox News' Yonat Friling and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.