Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in front of the Knesset (parliament) building in West Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, then headed to the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rejecting the dismissal of former Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

On Tuesday evening, Netanyahu dismissed Galant and appointed Yisrael Katz in his place. The decision also included appointing the head of the National Right party, Gideon Sa'ar, as foreign minister instead of Katz.

Netanyahu's decision sparked anger in Israel amid domestic accusations that he sacrificed an experienced defense minister in order to preserve his government coalition.

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said: "A day after the dramatic dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Galant from his position, thousands of Israelis organized a demonstration this evening (Wednesday) in Agranat Square near the Knesset building in Jerusalem, and then headed to Netanyahu's home."

According to the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz, thousands of Israelis headed to Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening to protest Galant's dismissal.

The protesters chanted slogans against Galant's dismissal, and demanded an immediate deal with Hamas to return the Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, form an official investigation committee into the movement's attack on Israeli military bases and settlements on October 7, 2023, and bring forward the date of the elections, according to the same source.

The newspaper quoted former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon as saying during the demonstration in front of the Knesset: "Who would have believed that a prime minister would replace an experienced defense minister with an inexperienced minister during the war (the genocide in Gaza) in order to preserve the coalition?"

He also asked: "Who would have believed that in order to preserve the coalition, a prime minister would prevent the conscription of Haredi Jews, while the army is short of 20,000 combat soldiers?"

"Who would have believed that a prime minister would sabotage the chances of reaching deals to release the abductees?" said Ya'alon, who served as defense minister between 2013 and 2016.

In his first appearance after his dismissal, Galant said in a televised speech on Tuesday evening that Netanyahu dismissed him as a result of a disagreement over three issues: his refusal to approve the passage of a law exempting the Haredim from conscription, his insistence on returning the prisoners in Gaza alive, and forming an official investigation committee into the events of October 7, 2023.

Shortly after Netanyahu announced the dismissal of his defense minister, social media began to be abuzz with calls for demonstrations in a number of locations across Israel.

The largest protests were in Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated, closed the main Ayalon Highway in both directions for about 4 hours, and chanted slogans denouncing Netanyahu.

The dismissal came at a time when Israel, with full American support, has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip for more than a year, leaving about 146,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.