The head of the Religious Zionism Party and Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Wednesday that he opposes the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, which is currently being negotiated, and claimed that it is a deal that is "not good and does not serve Israeli goals and interests in the war, nor the return of the kidnapped soldiers because it is a partial deal."

Smotrich said in an interview with a right-wing radio station that "Hamas is at its lowest point since the beginning of the war, and this is not the time to give it a lifeline. This is the time to continue striking it and pressuring it to return the kidnapped soldiers, but through a surrender deal, not our surrender."

He added that deals in which hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released and the Israeli army would withdraw from the northern Gaza Strip "and allow a million Gazans to return there, are a grave mistake."

Smotrich claimed that "if we were not talking to Hamas but seeing it through the muzzles and fire of tanks and planes and madness, the kidnapped would have been here a long time ago."

He added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "knows what our red lines are, and we have a great influence on the government's moves. I am proud of the ability to conduct objective deliberations, and only a donkey does not change his mind." He claimed that "there is only one thing that matters to us, and that is the interest of Israel, and now we are talking about another deal, not one that serves the security of the state or the return of all the kidnapped. And this is a problem in my view, that we decide who will return and who will not return."

Yesterday, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Kan 11) reported that the recent progress in the negotiations did not lead to a "breakthrough," with disagreements continuing over key issues, most notably the Israeli presence in the Salah al-Din "Philadelphi" axis, the prisoner exchange plan, and the number of prisoners that might be included in the deal.

The Walla website also quoted three senior Israeli officials as saying that the gaps are still large and that reaching an agreement in the near future is not expected. One of the officials said that "Hamas insists that any prisoner deal must lead to an end to the war," which Israel rejects.

Israeli sources considered that some gaps cannot be bridged through the ongoing talks in Doha, and require decisions from the political leaderships on both sides.

One of them added that "we may need to go through a new crisis in the negotiations to push the two sides to make the required decisions," and Channel 13 reported that the negotiations are being managed in a limited manner by Netanyahu, Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, and Mossad chief, David Barnea.

Hamas said in a statement yesterday that the indirect talks taking place in Doha with Qatari and Egyptian mediation were "serious and positive," noting that reaching an agreement is possible if "Israel stops setting new conditions."