This was a remarkable day for Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu holds the record as its longest-serving prime minister. Now he has become the country's first serving leader to take to the witness stand as a defendant in a criminal case.

Moreover, he did so amid the ongoing war in Gaza and as Israel carried out attacks in Syria during a tumultuous week for the region.

Netanyahu's lawyer, Amit Hadad, first opened the defence argument, portraying the corruption trial as biased and his client as the victim of a political witch-hunt.

Prosecutors, he said, "weren't investigating a crime, they were pursuing a man".

Netanyahu then sought to downplay the significance of the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and stress his political legacy. He strongly denies any wrongdoing.

"I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth," the veteran leader told the court in Tel Aviv.

"But I am also a prime minister… I am leading the country through a seven-front war, and I think the two can be done in parallel."