Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Trump administration is conducting "a lot of quiet planning" as it works to push Israel and Hamas toward phase two of the US president's Gaza roadmap.

Leavitt said Washington would make announcements “at the appropriate time” on several elements of Trump's plan. The plan includes the establishment of an international stabilisation force that will be deployed to the enclave and the so-called "board of peace".

Expected to be chaired by Trump himself, the "board of peace" is an international body that the US government says will oversee the administration of Gaza as Hamas hands over control of the territory, Al Jazeera reported.

The Financial Times reported this week that the UK's former prime minister, Tony Blair, was dropped from consideration for a role on the board amid widespread condemnation of his possible involvement.

US Central Command, which oversees US military activities in the Middle East, has said that more than 30,000 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza since a US-backed ceasefire came into effect, Al Jazeera reported.

Humanitarian organisations, however, have said that Israel is allowing far less aid into the Strip than was agreed to in the deal and that humanitarian assistance levels remain deeply inadequate.

The UN has called on Israel to allow unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza after a winter storm intensified hardships for displaced residents.

A spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres said the UN's humanitarian office processed more than 160 flooding alerts since this morning in Gaza amid Storm Byron, Al Jazeera reported.

Farhan Haq said the UN needs restrictions on humanitarian operations to be lifted to be able to adequately respond to Palestinian families’ needs.

"This includes ending the ongoing ban on most international NGOs and on UNRWA, which continue to serve communities despite operating under severe restraints," he told reporters during a briefing at UN headquarters in New York.

"To further scale up the response, we also urgently need more crossings, more routes and approval to bring a wider range of relief items into Gaza."

Nemo, last year's Eurovision winner, said on Thursday he was returning the 2024 trophy in protest over Israel's continued participation, which has already prompted five countries to pull out.

"I no longer feel like this trophy belongs on my shelf," the Swiss vocalist said on Instagram.

The Eurovision Song Contest, the world's biggest live televised music event, is put on by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

On December 4, members of the world's largest public service media alliance decided no vote was needed on Israel's inclusion in the glitzy annual extravaganza.

Widespread opposition to the two-year war in Gaza had led to mounting calls for Israel to be excluded.

Eleven Israeli ministers, including eight from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, urged the defence minister on Thursday to authorise a flag-raising ceremony in the Gaza Strip on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

In a letter published by the ultranationalist pro-settlement movement Nachala, which kickstarted the initiative, they said "it is time to proudly affirm that Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, and must therefore immediately become part of the State of Israel".

"We request an authorisation for this event, which is essentially intended to hoist the Israeli flag over the ruins of the town of Nissanit," the letter reads, referring to a former Israeli settlement in the northern Gaza Strip dismantled during Israel's withdrawal from the territory in 2005.

Hamas rejected on Thursday a report by Amnesty International that accused the movement and other armed groups of crimes against humanity during and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

"The report's repetition of the lies and allegations promoted by the occupation government concerning rape, sexual violence, and the mistreatment of captives clearly demonstrates that the purpose of this report is incitement and distorting the image of the resistance," Hamas said in a statement, calling for the human rights organisation to retract the "flawed and unprofessional report".

The Trump administration is planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the International Stabilisation Force in Gaza, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two US officials and two Israeli officials.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, who visited Israel this week, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials that the Trump administration is going to lead the ISF and appoint a two-star general as its commander, Axios said.

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that an announcement about which world leaders will serve on the Gaza Board of Peace should be made early next year.

Torrential rain swept across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, flooding hundreds of tents sheltering families displaced by two years of war, and leading to the death of a baby girl due to exposure, local health officials said.

Medics said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died of exposure after water inundated her family's tent in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.

"When we woke up, we found the rain over her and the wind on her, and the girl died of cold suddenly," she told Reuters.