Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to dismiss last week, has completed his visit to the occupied West Bank and warned against Iranian interference.
"We will not allow the Iranians and Hezbollah to harm us. We have not allowed it in the past, we won’t allow it now, or anytime in the future," Gallant said during the visit to an army brigade in the West Bank.
Netanyahu announced Gallant's dismissal a week ago after he spoke out against the pace of the government's hotly contested judicial overhaul.
The announcement triggered foreign alarm and unprecedented street protest, and Gallant never received a formal dismissal letter from Netanyahu.
Netanyahu's far-right coalition government has since moved to pause the judicial overhaul.
Gallant was briefed during his visit on a probe into a Palestinian motorist who the Israeli forces said it shot on Saturday after he rammed his car into a group of soldiers in the West Bank.
Since the start of the year, Israeli forces have killed at least 94 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The surge in violence has been fuelled by an uptick in attacks by settlers spurred on by the extremist far-right Israeli government.
"All our fronts are tense. The Iranians are extending their outreach to (the West Bank) and Gaza, and are attempting to entrench themselves in Syria and Lebanon," said Gallant.