Israel's Defence Minister quits, calls ceasefire agreement "surrendering to terror"

Israeli defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has quit his post following the country's acceptance of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza, which he see as "surrendering to terror".

Mr. Lieberman, also criticised attempts to seek a long-term truce with the Hamas group.

Israel have been engaged in renewed violence which broke out after an Israeli special forces undercover operation in Gaza was exposed on Sunday, resulting Gaza's Palestinian militant group, Hamas, firing 460 rockets towards Israel and Israeli forces bombing 160 targets in Gaza.

Eight people - 7 Palestinian and 1 Israeli soldier- were killed in the violence which lasted till Tuesday.

Israel and Hamas, agreed on the ceasefire agreement following after mediation by Egypt, which was announced on Tuesday afternoon.

But Israel's security cabinet initially denied an agreement was reached saying it was ordering the military to continue its operations as required.

However, Lieberman -who's the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party- and another minister confirmed it had agreed to accept a ceasefire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the ceasefire decision, saying that "in times of emergency, when making decisions crucial to security, the public can't always be privy to the considerations that must be hidden from the enemy".

Hamas is celebrating the defence minister's resignation as a "victory for Gaza"




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