Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday ahead of an expected attack from Iran. Axios reporter Barak Ravid broke the news and reported on Gallant’s replacement, ” Netanyahu appoints foreign minister Israel Katz as minister of defense and Gideon Saar as foreign minister.”

Iran has threatened “a crushing response” in recent days to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon and Gaza. “The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a video released by Iranian state media over the weekend.

CNN reported late last week that an Iranian attack was believed to be coming within days. “A high-ranking Iranian source told CNN that Iran is planning a “definitive and painful” response that will likely come before the election,” reported Axios last week. Israeli officials have been preparing to defend against what would be a third attack from Iranian territory so far this year.

Ravid offered some commentary on what he sees as being behind Netanyahu’s surprise decision to remove Gallant, who has been critical of Netanyahu in the past and called his  “absolute victory” promise in the war in Gaza “gibberish.” “Why it matters: Netanyahu’s move in the middle of a multi-front war is being driven mostly by domestic political consideration and the need to pass laws that benefits ultra-orthodox students who don’t serve in the military. Gallant opposes the laws, while the ultra-orthodox parties in the coalition threaten to topple the government if the laws doesn’t pass in the coming days,” wrote Ravid.

“Unfortunately, although in the first months of the war there was trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the Defense Minister,” said Netanyahu in a video statement explaining his decision to remove Gallant.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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