Jerusalem/Cairo, November 5 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Galant, citing a "crisis of confidence," and replaced him with Yisrael Katz, who was previously foreign minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces issued new evacuation orders in the northern Gaza Strip and carried out military strikes that have killed at least 35 people since Monday evening, according to Palestinian medics and media.
The prime minister appointed Gideon Saar as the new foreign minister, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Galant and Netanyahu, both from the right-wing Likud party, have been clashing for several months now. on the objectives of Israel's thirteen-month-long Gaza wars against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Prime Minister accused Galante of making decisions and issuing statements that were contrary to the decisions and statements of the Cabinet. He said the majority of cabinet members agree with the minister's dismissal, the portal reported The Times of Israel.
In response, Galant replied: "The security of the State of Israel has always been and will remain my life's mission."
In September, there were News, that Netanyahu, under pressure from far-right coalition partners, is considering Gallant's dismissal.
French foreign minister on Wednesday, the day after the American elections, will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories to put diplomatic pressure on Israel to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
In northern Gaza, two homes in the town of Beit Lahiya were damaged in an airstrike late Monday night, killing at least 20 people, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media reported.
Ten people were killed in central areas of the Palestinian enclave - six in separate airstrikes on Gaza City and Deir al-Balah and four in the town of al-Zawayda around midnight Monday, health officials and health officials said.
At least five other people were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in Jabaliya, north of Gaza City, medics said later on Tuesday.
The Israeli army said without giving details that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabaliya area. Israeli forces also located weapons and explosives in the southern Rafah area over the past day, where "terrorist infrastructure objects" were destroyed, it said.
Later on Tuesday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over Beit Lahiya, ordering residents who had not yet left their homes and shelters for displaced families to leave the town entirely.
"To all those who have remained in homes and shelters, we are informing you that you are risking your lives. For your own safety, you must head south." said the leaflet, written in Arabic.
Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli evacuation orders are aimed at emptying areas and creating buffer zones.
Israel says the evacuations are to keep civilians out of harm's way while its troops fight Hamas fighters. The army says hundreds of Palestinian gunmen have been killed or captured in the Jabaliya area over the past month.
Patients to be evacuated
According to health authorities in Gaza, more than 43 300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war and much of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli counts.
In announcing plans for a rare transfer of patients From Gaza, a World Health Organization official said Wednesday that more than 100 people, including children suffering from injuries and chronic illnesses, will be evacuated from Gaza.
In Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said at least seven people were killed in Israeli military airstrikes and air strikes on Tuesday.
The Israeli army said its aircraft had targeted a group of gunmen and that its forces had arrested 60 gunmen.
Since the start of the Gaza war, violence has increased sharply in the West Bank, with Israeli forces conducting almost daily raids resulting in thousands of arrests and regular shootouts between security forces and Palestinian militants.
Reuters/ gnews - RoZ