“Thousands of Afghans have been killed or injured by US forces since the invasion, but the victims and their families have little chance of redress. The US military justice system almost always fails to hold its soldiers accountable for unlawful killings and other abuses.”

“None of the cases that we looked into – involving more than 140 civilian deaths – were prosecuted by the US military. Evidence of possible war crimes and unlawful killings has seemingly been ignored.”

A new 3-day ceasefire has begun in Gaza after Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed to a proposal by Egypt on Sunday.

"Israel has accepted Egypt's proposal," a senior Israeli government official told Reuters, adding that if the truce held, negotiators would return to Cairo to resume indirect talks with the Palestinians.

Izzat al-Reshiq, a Hamas negotiator in Cairo, told the news agency: "In light of Israel's acceptance of the truce and their return without pre-conditions, we will inform the Egyptian brothers of our positive response."

Egypt's Foreign Ministry urged "both sides to exploit this truce to resume indirect negotiations immediately and work towards a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire agreement".

A previous truce expired on Friday, which saw an immediate resumption of hostilities. 19 Palestinians died in Israeli air strikes since Friday, with Hamas firing rockets and mortars into southern Israel, leaving two civilians injured.

Hamas urges PA to join ICC

The Middle East Eye reported on Sunday that Hamas is demanding that President Mahmoud Abbas signs the Rome Statute which will allow Palestine to join the International Criminal Court.

Hamas’s deputy chairman and chief negotiator in Cairo, Moussa Abu Marzouk has been instructed to sign the document supporting the State of Palestine as a member of the ICC.

Peshmerga forces are reclaiming territory previously lost to Islamic State militants, after US fighter jets pounded their positions south of the Kurdish capital Erbil.

The towns of Makhmur and Gwer were retaken by the Kurdish troops, as the US launched its fourth wave of strikes against IS targets.

Kurdish President Massoud Barzani on Sunday requested international military aid to help defeat the militants.

"We are not fighting a terrorist organisation, we are fighting a terrorist state," said Mr Barzani, who was speaking alongside French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, in Iraq for talks on the crisis.

Pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine’s east have called for an immediate ceasefire to avert a humanitarian disaster, after reports that the Ukrainian army had recaptured a key city from the rebels, reported Reuters.

Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic, made the call in a statement published on the rebel website.

"We are ready for a ceasefire to prevent the proliferation of a humanitarian disaster in Donbass," he said.

Russia renewed its offer to send a humanitarian mission, after the US warned Moscow on Friday not to use such mission as a pretext to send troops to support the rebels.

Colombian rebels have attacked an oil field near the Venezuelan border.

The state-owned Ecopetrol said that no-one was injured in the attack on the Tibu field.

The dispute over the Afghan presidency has ended after a political agreement was reached by Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who both claimed to have won the election earlier this year.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed 5 Palestinians, with now over 1,900 deaths in the Gaza strip, according to the UN.

"In recent days these terrorists have continued to move across Iraq and have neared the city of Erbil where American diplomats and civilians serve at our consulate and American military personnel advise Iraqi forces.

To stop the advance on Erbil, I have directed our military to take targetted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move towards the city. We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our forces or personnel any where in Iraq including our consulate in Erbil and our embassy in Baghdad.

We are providing urgent assistance to Iraqi government and Kurdish forces so they can more effectively wage the fight against ISIL."