Israel-Palestine live: Israel says 39 more Palestinians freed under truce deal
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told US President Joe Biden that Israel would resume its campaign in Gaza with full force once a temporary truce comes to an end, Reuters reported.
However, Netanyahu also said he would welcome extending the truce if it facilitated the release of 10 additional hostages every day, as agreed under the original Qatari-brokered deal.
To date, there have been 117 prisoners released during the temporary truce and 54 hostages.
Pictures are emerging of some of the latest Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons, returning home to their families on Sunday evening.
Israel's prison service has announced that 39 Palestinian detainees were released on Sunday under the terms of a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to AFP.
The announcement came after 13 Israeli hostages were earlier freed in the Palestinian territory under the deal, along with three Thais and a Russian-Israeli dual citizen.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi discussed on a call on Sunday the importance of Muslim countries, especially Turkey and Iran, taking a common stance against "Israeli brutality in the Palestinian territories", according to Reuters.
"Israel's unlawful attacks on Gaza, humanitarian aid efforts for Palestinians and possible measures towards a permanent ceasefire in the region were discussed during the phone call," the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
A source close to Hamas said on Sunday that the group was willing to extend the current truce with Israel in Gaza for two to four days beyond its initial expiry on Monday.
"Hamas informed the mediators that the resistance movements were willing to extend the current truce by two to four days. The resistance believes it is possible to ensure the release of 20 to 40 Israeli prisoners," the source told AFP, referring to hostages seized in the 7 October attacks.
The Palestinian foreign ministry on Sunday condemned a shooting in the US state of Vermont in which three Palestinian students were injured.
The ministry said in a statement that Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed, who were speaking Arabic and wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, had sustained "severe and moderate injuries" during the shooting on Saturday evening.
Awartani was reportedly shot in the back, Ahmed in the chest and Abdel Hamid sustained minor wounds.
The foreign ministry called on US authorities to quickly hold those responsible for the shooting to account.
Earlier, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) condemned the shooting and said it was an outcome of "anti-Palestinian sentiment" in the country.
"We are praying for a full recovery of the victims, and will stand by to support the families in any way that is needed. Given the information collected and provided, it is clear that hate was a motivating factor in this shooting, and we call on law enforcement to investigate it as such," the group said in a statement.
"The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented, and this is another example of that hate turning violent."
A tanker linked to an Israel-affiliated company was seized off Yemen on Sunday by armed individuals, a US defence official confirmed, following a series of incidents on the same shipping route.
"There are indications that an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals seized the M/V Central Park in the Gulf of Aden on 26 November. US and coalition forces are in the vicinity and we are closely monitoring the situation," the official told AFP.
The maritime security firm Ambrey said that "US naval forces are engaged in the situation" after the incident involving the Central Park, which is owned and managed by a UK-based, Israel-linked company.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels had previously threatened to attack the tanker if it did not divert to the port of Hodeida, it said.
The boarding took place offshore from the Yemeni port city of Aden, with another vessel in the area reporting "an approach by eight persons on two skiffs wearing military uniforms", Ambrey said.
The latest incident comes after a US defence official said an Israeli-owned cargo ship was damaged in a suspected Iranian drone attack in the Indian Ocean on Friday, and a week after Houthis seized an Israel-linked cargo vessel in the southern Red Sea.
US President Joe Biden on Sunday said a four-year-old American hostage has been released in Gaza and that he hopes a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas fighters can continue to exchange prisoners.
Hamas said on Sunday it had handed over 13 Israeli hostages, three Thai nationals and a person with Russian citizenship who had been held in the Gaza Strip to the Red Cross on the third day of a truce between Israel and the militant group.
The latest release of hostages is expected to be mirrored by the Israelis freeing another group of 39 Palestinian prisoners as on previous days in the truce.
Prior to Sunday evening, the truce had seen 26 Israeli hostages freed by Hamas in exchange for 78 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
As a result of parallel negotiations led by Qatar, 14 Thais and one Filipino were also freed by the Palestinian group.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi thanked Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Sunday for his work in mediating a truce for Gaza and the exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Israel.
"I look forward to more cooperation that can help meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people and to establish a comprehensive peace in the region," Sisi said on social media.
A total of 39 Palestinians held by Israel are to be released from prison on Sunday, Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said.
As part of agreed commitments, on the third day of the Gaza truce, "39 Palestinian civilians will be released today in exchange for the release of 13 Israeli detainees from Gaza, in addition to a detainee holding Russian citizenship and 3 Thais," Majed Al-Ansari said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli air strikes on Sunday made Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights had resumed following a similar attack last month, a war monitor said, as state media also reported the attack.
"Israeli warplanes on Sunday afternoon carried out a new raid targeting Damascus international airport… putting it out of service again," said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It said the raid targeted the runways, and reported the sound of an explosion from the direction of a military airport elsewhere in the capital.
A military source said in a statement carried by state news agency Sana that at around 4.50pm (13.50 GMT), "the Zionist enemy carried out an air attack with missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan [Heights]".
US President Joe Biden will talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation.
The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has condemned the shooting of three students of Palestinian descent and said it was an outcome of "anti-Palestinian sentiment" in the country.
"We are praying for a full recovery of the victims, and will stand by to support the families in any way that is needed. Given the information collected and provided, it is clear that hate was a motivating factor in this shooting, and we call on law enforcement to investigate it as such," the group said in a statement.
"The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented, and this is another example of that hate turning violent."
Three Palestinian students in the United States were shot in Vermont on Saturday night, according to SNBC.
The three students have been identified as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed.
Awartani was reportedly shot in the back, Ahmed in the chest and Abdel Hamid sustained minor wounds.
Family members say that it is a hate crime, amid a surge in violence against those expressing support for Palestine.
Basil Awartani, the cousin of Hisham Awartani, said he was shot in the back "while walking with his friends in Burlington for simply wearing kuffiyehs and speaking Arabic".
"Dangerous preformative rhetoric from US pundits and politicians as well as constant dehumanisation of Palestinians has a real life cost," he added.
