JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's outgoing defense minister says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to accept an informal truce with Gaza's Hamas rulers amounts to "utter capitulation to terrorism."
Avigdor Lieberman, who quit over the cease-fire, told the Yediot Ahronot daily in remarks published on Friday that he would've opted instead for punishing airstrikes, "without the need for a ground incursion" into Gaza.
The Egypt-brokered truce was reached after two days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas that had been triggered by a botched Israeli undercover raid in Gaza.
Lieberman's resignation left Netanyahu's ruling coalition with a one-seat parliamentary majority, increasing the likelihood of early elections.
Later Friday, Netanyahu was to meet with Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, who has threatened to topple the government if he is not named defense minister.
