JERUSALEM - Efforts to secure the release of more than 200 hostages will continue even during the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, after announcing the war had moved to a second phase.

Asked at a news conference whether contacts to release the hostages would continue even during the ground offensive, Netanyahu replied: "Yes".

He said the idea of a swap deal of hostages for Palestinian prisoners had been discussed within the Israeli war cabinet but declined to elaborate, saying revealing any details would be counterproductive.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and James Mackenzie; editing by David Evans)