Peter Russell’s first year as Magpies coach was 2007 and they made the semifinals.

Israel's cabinet has approved President Donald Trump's plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all the remaining hostages held by Hamas, a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that has destabilised the Middle East.

A brief statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the cabinet approved the "outline" of a deal to release the hostages, without mentioning other aspects of the plan that are more controversial.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said that, according to the agreement, the ceasefire should begin immediately after government approval.

READ MORE: Putin admits Russian missiles downed passenger jet

The Israeli military now has 24 hours to pull back its forces to an agreed-upon line.

The broader ceasefire plan includes many unanswered questions, such as whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza.

But the sides appeared closer than they have been in months to ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, reduced much of Gaza to rubble, brought famine to parts of the territory and left dozens of hostages, living and dead, in Gaza.

The war, which began with Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.

Some 1200 people were killed in the Hamas-led assault, and 251 were taken hostage.

In Israel's ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children.

READ MORE: RBA boss denies housing crisis accusation in tense stand-off

In the hours leading up to the Israeli cabinet's vote, Israeli strikes continued.

Explosions were seen on Thursday in northern Gaza, and a strike on a building in Gaza City killed at least two people and left more than 40 trapped under rubble, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

A senior Hamas official and lead negotiator made a speech on Thursday laying out what he says are the core elements of the ceasefire deal: Israel releasing around 2000 Palestinian prisoners, opening the border crossing with Egypt, allowing aid to flow and withdrawing from Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayya said all women and children held in Israeli jails will also be freed. He did not offer details on the extent of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Al-Hayya said the Trump administration and mediators had given assurances that the war is over, and that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will now focus on achieving self-determination and establishing a Palestinian state.

"We declare today that we have reached an agreement to end the war and the aggression against our people," Al-Hayya said in a televised speech on Thursday evening.

To help support and monitor the ceasefire deal, US officials said that they would send about 200 troops to Israel as part of a broader, international team. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorised for release.

READ MORE: Tsunami warning after major earthquake hits Philippines

Cautious celebrations

In the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, reactions to the announcement of a ceasefire were relatively muted and often colored by grief.

"I am happy and unhappy. We have lost a lot of people and lost loved ones, friends and family. We lost our homes," said Mohammad Al-Farra. "Despite our happiness, we cannot help but think of what is to come. … The areas we are going back to, or intending to return to, are uninhabitable."

In Tel Aviv, families of the remaining hostages popped champagne and cried tears of joy after Trump announced the deal.

In Jerusalem on Thursday, Sharon Canot celebrated with some others.

"We are so excited this morning. We cried all morning," she said.

"It's been two years that we are in horror."

READ MORE: Russia launching 'massive attack' on Ukraine energy infrastructure

Under the terms, Hamas intends to release all living hostages in a matter of days, while the Israeli military will begin a withdrawal from the majority of Gaza, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an agreement that has not fully been made public. Some 20 of the 48 hostages still in captivity are believed to be alive.

In a short video posted by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump was seen speaking by phone to a group of elated hostage families.

"They are all coming back on Monday," said Trump, who is expected to visit the region in the coming days.

READ MORE: Severe weather warnings issued in five states and territories as destructive winds surge

How the deal will unfold

The deal, which was expected to be signed in Egypt, will include a list of prisoners to be released and maps for the first phase of an Israeli withdrawal to new positions in Gaza, according to two Egyptian officials briefed on the talks, a Hamas official and another official.

Israel will publish the list of the prisoners, and victims of their attacks will have 24 hours to lodge objections.

The withdrawal could start as soon as Thursday evening, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to be publicly named speaking about the negotiations.

The hostage and prisoner releases are expected to begin on Monday, the officials from Egypt and Hamas said, though the other official said they could occur as early as Sunday night.

Five border crossings would reopen, including the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the Egyptian and Hamas officials said.

READ MORE: Unusual customer heads to South Australia bottle shop's beer fridge

Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, told reporters that officials have 170,000 metric tons of medicine, aid and other supplies at the ready for transport into Gaza when they are given a green light.

The Trump plan calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel.

An international force, composed largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza.

The U.S. would lead a massive internationally funded reconstruction effort.

The plan also envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu has long opposed. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years.

The Trump plan is even more vague about a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu firmly rejects.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Voting closes Saturday, with results on who will shape speedway’s fate coming soon.

Greta Thunberg joined the flotilla seeking to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade.

Police found him 3km away in the act of removing damaged parts from his minivan.

Officers found drugs, ammunition and stolen property during the raid.

Officers also seized MDMA, ketamine and a large stash of cash.

A man who admitted to stabbing a carpenter over a bitter love triangle has had his murder conviction and 20-year jail term quashed.

Kevin George Smith, 41, was found guilty in September 2023 of murdering Daniel Pettersson with a large hunting knife after a NSW Supreme Court trial.

But an appeal court today found the jury was wrong to convict Smith of murder because there was reasonable doubt he may have acted in self-defence.

READ MORE: 'I am worried': Boss of US's biggest bank signals stock market collapse

Smith stabbed his love rival once in the chest at a home Pettersson had stormed into in the Newcastle suburb of Jesmond in January 2022.

His 20-year prison term also overturned, Smith now faces a District Court trial for the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Smith had been in an on-and-off relationship with a woman between 2016 and the day of the murder, while Pettersson had been seeing her between August and December 2019.

READ MORE: Can Donald Trump really win the Nobel Peace Prize?

When Pettersson and the woman separated, he moved to Queensland.

The woman found out a few months later she was pregnant and told Smith he was the father before giving birth in July 2020.

Pettersson returned to Newcastle in May 2021 and moved into the new house he had bought when the woman contacted him to tell him he might be the baby boy's father.

He decided to take a paternity test and during this time the woman would sometimes stay with him despite being in a relationship with Smith.

In August 2021, the DNA test proved Pettersson was the boy's biological father and Smith found out he had been lied to about paternity.

Smith was with the woman on January 6, 2022, at the Jesmond house when an aggressive, upset Pettersson pulled up outside about 3.34pm.

READ MORE: 'I burst into tears': The phone call from a friend that stopped Sarah Abo cold

Pettersson had called the woman 17 times and her father seven times as he wanted to see his son before deciding to drive to her home.

There was a confrontation in the kitchen between the two men and Pettersson was stabbed once in the chest.

However, no one at the house saw the fatal altercation occur, leading the Court of Criminal Appeal to find there was reasonable doubt Smith did not act in self-defence.

"There was a lengthy history of animosity between the applicant and the deceased, which included mutual threats," the appeal judgment states.

Pettersson lunged at Smith after he put the knife away and Smith was not in a position to be able to escape the house, the appeal court found.

By attempting to take the knife off him, Smith would have been in "mortal danger" had Pettersson used it against him, Justice Christine Adamson said.

Smith will apply for bail when the case returns to the District Court on October 17, his solicitor Mark Ramsland told AAP.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

RBA Governor Michele Bullock has hit back at suggestions from the Greens that the central bank is responsible for Australia's skyrocketing house prices in a tense parliamentary hearing.

In an appearance at Senate estimates this morning, Bullock was questioned by Greens senator Nick McKim about the Reserve Bank's role in the housing crisis.

"The $400 billion that the RBA printed in the early year or two of COVID and effectively handed over to retail banks, who then turn around and lend it into the property market, do you accept that that played a role in the housing price bubble that we've seen over the last five years?" McKim asked.

READ MORE: Man arrested after woman's death at Melbourne home

"Certainly part of the way monetary policy works is through the housing market, but I would not accept that the Reserve Bank is responsible for the housing price issues in this country," Bullock, who wasn't appointed as governor until 2023, replied.

When challenged on that by McKim, who put to her that the RBA "doesn't accept any responsibility whatsoever in the housing price spike", Bullock pointed to an oft-cited factor as the genuine culprit.

"The problem is the lack of supply relative to demand, and when monetary policy eases and housing demand picks up, supply can't pick up as quickly, and that's where you end up," she said. 

"But it's not monetary policy's responsibility to look after housing prices."

READ MORE: Unusual customer heads to South Australia bottle shop's beer fridge

Having previously said that it would be at least two years before Australia started to see some relief from price surges, despite governments starting to focus on increasing supply, Bullock reiterated that fixing the country's housing stock was a long, slow process.

"It takes time to get approvals and one of the big things is higher density housing and that by its nature takes much longer," she said.

"It is not something that you can just turn the switch and say 'alright, now we're off and running', it really takes time."

Bullock also frustrated McKim by telling him investors weren't significantly exacerbating the housing crisis at the moment, and by refusing to be drawn on whether removing the capital gains tax discount for property would slow price rises.

READ MORE: Pure chance saved fourth officer from being shot by Dezi Freeman: police

"I have done no particular analysis on what removal of the capital gains tax might do," she said.

"It's (not) my job to tell the government what they should do with the policy," she added. 

However, when asked by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg about the impact of the federal government's expanded first home guarantee scheme, Bullock said it was possible it would lead to house prices going "a little higher" in the short-term.

But as for the medium-term impacts, she said that would depend on – you guessed it – supply.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Eight people have been arrested after police dismantled a sophisticated cannabis crop growing in gardening igloos in Melbourne's south-east.

Drone footage released by police today shows officers chasing the alleged offenders through a 20-acre property in Devon Meadows on Tuesday.

The property was one of two police raided simultaneously at 7.30am that morning.

READ MORE: Can Donald Trump really win the Nobel Peace Prize?

One of the men was cornered near the grow houses, handcuffed and taken into custody.

Approximately 4500 cannabis plants worth an estimated $15 million were taken from the property.

The plants will be destroyed after a forensic examination by a botanist.

READ MORE: Boss of US's biggest bank signals stock market collapse

Five men aged between 26 and 49 have been charged with cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis.

The 26-year-old man was also charged with possessing a drug of dependence.

They appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

They have been remanded to face court at a later date.

Three men aged 32, 37 and 41 were released on intent to summons for cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis

A man and woman, both aged 33, were spoken to and released pending enquiries.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.