Smotrich: Ceasefire deal on the table 'a defeat for Israel'

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that a ceasefire and a prisoner swap deal under discussion to end the war in Gaza would constitute a defeat for Israel and he wants no part of it.

"This deal is a defeat and humiliation of Israel," Smotrich told a meeting of the party he leads, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

"Mr Prime Minister, this is not an absolute victory. This is total failure. We will not be part of a deal of surrender to Hamas."

Reporting by Reuters