Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon has dismissed four ministers from his cabinet.
The four ministers from the Shas party and several deputy ministers from the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, another ultra-Orthodox grouping, were sacked when they did not back the government on an economic austerity plan before parliament.
Mr Sharon's economic proposals - which were meant to help cover the expenses of the recent military offensive in the West Bank - would have cut welfare spending and increased taxes but were rejected in the vote.
In theory, the loss of Shas and the UTJ means Mr Sharon's government all but loses its - by Israeli standards - huge majority in parliament.
If Mr Sharon does lose the backing of both parties, he will be supported by 60 of the 120 members of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset - still a technical majority.
But the dismissal of the ministers leaves Mr Sharon dependent on the left-of-centre Labor party to maintain his national unity government. Mr Sharon is now vulnerable to a no-confidence vote that could trigger elections. The dismissals will come into effect within 48 hours unless Shas, the UTJ and Mr Sharon can come to some arrangement.