Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given the green light to a "bad and disastrous" deal in the Gaza Strip, threatening to resign from the government if the war of extermination was not resumed.

In a post on the X platform, Smotrich wrote: “Unfortunately, the prime minister decided to give the green light to a bad and disastrous deal, as it poses a great danger to Israeli national security, and sets back many of the achievements made in the war,” he said.

He continued: "We strongly oppose the deal, and we have done everything in our power to prevent a bad deal that would endanger Israel."

He claimed, "Unfortunately, we were unable to prevent this dangerous deal, but we were able to ensure that the war would not end without fully achieving its goals, most notably the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza."

Smotrich, who is the head of the Religious Zionism party, added: “We demanded and received a commitment to change the method of war in order to reach a complete resolution through gradual control over the entire Gaza Strip, reaching full control over the Strip, so that humanitarian aid does not reach Hamas.”

He said: "Exciting and difficult days await us. We will be happy and joyful when some of our kidnapped (detainees) return to their homeland, but we will remember that a difficult mission awaits us immediately after that, which is to return and fight until victory. My mission now is to achieve complete victory over Hamas, militarily and civilly, and the return of all the kidnapped to their homes."

Smotrich continued: "I confirm that we will not accept any excuse in this matter, and we will not sit in a government that, God forbid, stops the war and does not continue until complete victory over Hamas."

Taking pleasure in the destruction of Gaza, he continued, saying: “Look at Gaza, destroyed, disintegrated and uninhabitable, and it will remain so.”

Regarding the joy of the Gazans at stopping the Israeli genocide, Smotrich said: “Do not be surprised by the joy of our enemy, for this is a society that sanctifies death and dances on the ruins of its life. Very quickly, we will erase their smiles again and replace them with the cries of defeat and the groans of those who have nothing left.”

On Sunday morning, the ceasefire agreement in Gaza went into effect based on the time set by the mediators at 6:30 (GMT), but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in a statement from his office that the ceasefire would not begin until the list of the three female prisoners who were supposed to be released today was received, as Hamas said at the time that its delay in delivering the list was due to “technical field” reasons.

Later, Hamas handed over the list of names to the mediators, while the Qassam Brigades published the names of the three female prisoners, and Netanyahu's office announced that the ceasefire in the first phase in the Gaza Strip had entered into effect at 11:15 Palestine time (09:15 GMT).