Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed his popular defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.

There have been regular rumours that he was on the way out but he refused to go, remaining a thorn in Netanyahu's side as he argued for a hostage deal in Gaza and clashed with other parties in the coalition over drafting members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community into the military.