He called Yoav Galant Who was dismissed by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu From the position of Minister of Defense, the government began working to return detainees from… Gaza Strip “And they are alive,” stressing the need for all Israelis to perform military service.
“Our obligation (is) to return the hostages. We must do it quickly while they are alive,” Gallant said in a speech on Tuesday after he was removed from office.
He added, “Everyone in Israel must serve in the army,” referring to religious Jews who were exempt from compulsory service until the Supreme Court ended this exemption last June.
Gallant confirmed that the decision to dismiss him came as a result of disagreements regarding 3 issues, the first of which is related to the issue of conscription, as he believes that everyone who is of conscription age should join the army, according to what he said.
He pointed out that the second disagreement relates to his insistence on returning Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip as quickly as possible, “and this is a goal that can be achieved with a degree of concessions, some of which are painful.”
He said that the third disagreement relates to his insistence that an official investigation body must be formed into what happened after October 7, 2023.
Dismissal over the phone
On Tuesday evening, Netanyahu announced Gallant’s dismissal, saying that he did not trust his management of the ongoing military operations, and that “the crisis of trust that occurred between them made it impossible to continue managing the war in this way.”
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the prime minister appointed the foreign minister Yisrael Katz Successor to Gallant, and head of the National Right Party Gideon Saar Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to the website of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu informed Gallant of the decision to dismiss him only 10 minutes before issuing the statement, and Channel 12 also said that the dismissal call between them lasted only 3 minutes.
Israeli media reported, citing security sources, that after Gallant’s dismissal, Netanyahu was moving to dismiss the chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet, which was later denied by Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss Defense Minister Yoav Galant sparked mixed internal responses, which were dominated by severe criticism, and while thousands of protesters took to the streets in rejection of the decision, the occupation army continues to wage a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which later expanded its scope to Lebanon.