Gaza: Hamas said it wanted to extend the pause in fighting, which has entered its fourth day and final agreed day on Monday (today).
At least thirty-nine teenage Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel on Sunday, taking the total since the truce began to 117.
Hamas said it had handed over 13 Israelis, three Thais and one with Russian citizenship, and the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had successfully transferred them from Gaza on Sunday.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said he hoped the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas can go on as long as hostages are being released, after the Palestinian group freed 17 more people, including a 4-year-old Israeli-American girl.
Biden said the 4-year-old hostage, Abigail Edan, had witnessed her parents being killed by Hamas fighters during their Oct 7 rampage into Israel and had been held since then.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) had also called for the suspension of military assistance to Israel in light of its “war crimes” against Palestinian civilians.
“Governments should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit widespread, serious abuses amounting to war crimes against Palestinian civilians with impunity,” the watchdog said in its report.
In its report, the HRW also highlighted that it has documented repeated “apparently” unlawful Israeli attacks on medical facilities, personnel and transport during the current hostilities.
“The World Health Organization (WHO), as of November 24, had documented 187 attacks on health care in Gaza since October 7, which damaged 24 hospitals, according to data shared with Human Rights Watch.”
“International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, grants special protection to hospitals and other medical facilities, the injured and sick, as well as medical staff and transport: they must be protected and respected in all circumstances,” the report reads.