Political sources said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's surprise announcement of the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant may be the first in a series of moves to replace the leaders of Israel's security apparatus.
Among the officials who are reportedly on the chopping block are IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar.
The Prime Minister's Office rejected the reports and stated, "The reports to the effect that the Prime Minister intends to dismiss senior officials in the security services are incorrect and are designed to sow discord and rifts. This is also the case with the mendacious reports that the haredi ministers were in on the matter. They learned about it from the media."
Later on Tuesday, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement that Netanyahu spoke with the IDF Chief of Staff, the head of the Shin Bet and the head of the Mossad.
"The Prime Minister said in his conversations with the heads of the security branches that he expects to continue working together with the new Defense Minister," the statement added.
Netanyahu had explained earlier that his decision to dismiss Gallant was the result of a crisis of trust and significant differences between the two in the management of the war. "My highest commitment as Prime Minister of Israel is to maintain Israel's security and bring us to a complete victory."
"Significant gaps were discovered between myself and Gallant in the management of the campaign, and these gaps were accompanied by statements and actions that contradicted the decisions of the government and the cabinet. I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider. They also came to the public's attention in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies took pleasure in this and derived a lot of benefit from it," he said.
Netanyahu stated that he is in favor of differences of opinion and debate, "But the crisis of trust that gradually opened up between myself and the Minister of Defense has become public, and this crisis does not allow for the proper continuation of the management of the campaign. I'm not the only one who says this, most of the members of the government and most of the members of the cabinet, almost all of them share this feeling that this cannot continue."
"In light of this," he said, "I decided today to end the term of office of the Minister of Defense. In his place, I have decided to appoint Minister Israel Katz. Israel Katz has already proven his abilities and his contribution to national security as Minister of Foreign Affairs, as Minister of Finance, and as Minister of Intelligence for five years, and no less important than that, as a member of the political and security cabinet for many years."