Speaking during a Cabinet meeting in Ramallah city, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh urged the UN and Red Cross to act to save the life of Walid Dagga, who has been in prison for 37 years.

The movement's spokesman, Jihad Taha, stressed the need for a transparent UN probe and for holding "all complicit Israeli occupation leaders accountable," according to a statement that was published on Hamas' official website.

"The past month saw Occupation authorities seize the money of a number of Jerusalemite prisoners [who are detained in Israeli jails] and freed prisoners under the pretext that they had received money from the Palestinian Authority," the organization said in its monthly report for February.