Gantz, 51, replaces Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, whose term as chief of staff of Israel's armed forces ends on Monday.

"General Benny Gantz is an excellent officer and an experienced commander," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the cabinet unanimously approved him as next chief of staff.

Netanyahu said he hoped Gantz would help heal the rifts in the military, especially at a time of uncertainty in the Middle East.

"This appointment will held stabilise the Israel Defence Forces. This is always important, but even more so at this time of deep tremors that have hit our region," Netanyahu said.

Israel is nervously watching developments in the region following Friday's fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, seen as a moderate on the regional scene, after 18 days of mass protests.

Mubarak handed power to the military, which has vowed to carry out a transition to democracy and reassured Israel on Saturday that Cairo would continue to respect its 1979 peace treaty with the Jewish state.

"The longstanding peace treaty between Israel and Egypt has greatly contributed to both countries and is the cornerstone for peace and stability in the entire Middle East," Netanyahu said in reaction.

But Israel is still nervously watching its southern neighbour, fearful that Mubarak's exit could allow for the rise of an Islamist regime which could rescind the peace treaty.

However, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who held talks on Saturday with his Egyptian counterpart, sought to down play such concerns.

"I don't think that the relationship between Israel and Egypt is under any risk," Barak told the American network ABC. "I don't believe that something similar to the Iranian events of years ago is happening now."

Netanyahu had previously raised Israeli fears of organised Islamic groups taking control in Egypt amid the chaos, like in the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled Iran's pro-US shah.

Later on Sunday, Gantz met with visiting US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, the army said. Mullen is in the region to reassure Israel and Jordan after the Egyptian uprising.

Gantz, an ex-deputy chief of staff, was second choice for the tough post after the general initially designated for the job was disqualified over allegations he had illegally grabbed land around a luxury villa he built.

The bitter infighting over the top job among the top brass was dubbed the "battle of the generals" during which an allegedly forged document aimed at also discrediting Galant was circulated.

The turmoil also led to a deep rift between Barak and the army's outgoing chief Ashkenazi, with the two no longer on speaking terms. Galant was seen as Barak's candidate.

Barak adopted a conciliatory tone during Sunday's cabinet meeting, describing Gantz as "talented, rich in experience and accepted by all the generals."

Born on June 9, 1959 in the southern village of Kfar Achim, Gantz joined the army as a conscript in 1977, completing the tough selection course for the paratroops.

After rising through the ranks of the paratroopers, he went on to command Shaldag, the air force's special commando unit, and in 1994 returned to the army to command a brigade and then a division in the occupied West Bank.

He has also served as head of the army liaison unit which deals with UN forces in Lebanon and the Lebanese army, as commander of the northern Israel region, covering the Lebanon and Syria borders, and as head of ground forces.

In 2007, he became military attache to the United States, returning to Israel and in September 2009 rising to the post of Ashkenazi's deputy.

Gantz has a BA in history from Tel Aviv University, a masters degree in political science from Haifa University and a masters in national resource management from the National Defence University in the United States.

He is married and a father of four.

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