The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said his defence minister will remain in post, despite being sacked two weeks ago.

Mr Netanyahu said Yoav Gallant was being removed from his post after he gave a televised statement urging a halt to controversial judicial reforms.

The news sparked immediate and dramatic protests, including the temporary closure of Ben Gurion airport and a massive walkout by Israeli unions.

In response, Mr Netanyahu was forced to pause the reforms and is currently in compromise negotiations.

Mr Gallant’s sacking was never officially signed off, and he remained in post, although there were rumours he would have to publicly apologise for his comments if he wanted to stay in the job.

He didn’t, and Netanyahu was forced to make a second climb down in a matter of weeks.

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Speaking at the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv, Mr Netanyahu blamed the previous government for the current wave in violence: “Our country is under a terrorist assault,” he said.

But it “did not start now.”

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Mr Netanyahu and his Likud party have seen their support dramatically fall in polls – if an election was held tomorrow, they would be only the third most popular party if the voting went according to current polling.

Although Jerusalem has remained relatively quiet for a third consecutive day, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed during an Israeli raid on the town of Jericho and the mother of two Israeli-British sisters murdered on Friday lost her fight for life today.

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