Tel Aviv, Oct. 10 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (local time) said Israel is "about to achieve the central aim" of the war in Gaza, after the US president Donald Trump announced a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas after two years of conflict.

Netanyahu said the breakthrough came after both sides agreed to release hostages and prisoners under the first phase of the Gaza peace plan.

In a short address, Netanyahu said, "We are at a momentous development. In the last two years, we've fought to achieve our war aims. And a central one of these war aims is to return the hostages, all of the hostages, the living and the dead. And we're about to achieve that."

Netanyahu thanked Trump for media...