Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, saying he has lost confidence in him, according to a statement from the prime minister's office on Tuesday. He is to be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

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.