Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival until world’s attention was focused on the U.S. presidential election.

For a prime minister bent on political survival at all costs, the ouster of his defense minister makes a terrible kind of sense. For the country, it's just terrible

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying longstanding disagreements between them over the conduct of the conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah had become impossible to bridge.