LIVE UPDATES: Israel to Continue Military Operation With ‘Full Force’ After Pause Ends - UN Envoy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he has instructed Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to act against the leaders of Palestinian movement Hamas all around the world.

"I have instructed Mossad to act against Hamas leaders wherever they are," Netanyahu told a news conference.

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said late Wednesday that the release of hostages from the Gaza Strip will not begin before Friday, but talks are underway without interruptions.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the hostage deal during a phone call on Wednesday, the Whited House said.

Israeli rockets launched from the Golan Heights hit Syria’s infrastructure facilities in the Damascus province and injured four people, Vadim Kulit, the deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said on Wednesday.

Israel will continue its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza after a pause related to the hostage deal ends and will not stop until it eliminates all Hamas capabilities in the enclave, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan stated on Wednesday.

The number of Palestinians killed in the war in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has topped 14,500, the enclave's administration reported on Wednesday.

The number of those wounded in more than seven weeks of hostilities has exceeded 35,000.

China is calling for stepping up efforts to implement an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza and the realization of a ceasefire, Beijing's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun stated on Wednesday.

Furthermore, Zhang Jun stressed that it must be implemented immediately and fully to achieve a lasting ceasefire and avoid a larger humanitarian catastrophe.

China supports additional diplomatic efforts to secure the early release of more hostages, which may create the necessary dialogue for negotiations to restore peace, the ambassador emphasized.

The United Nations seeks to use the four-day truce between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas to expand its humanitarian aid operations and deliver much needed goods and fuel into the Gaza Strip, UN Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq stated on Wednesday.

The United Nations believe the situation on the ground is not conducive to investigating what happened in the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the deputy spokesman clarified.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday welcomed a four-day truce agreement between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, saying that the European Commission would do everything possible to use the deal to boost humanitarian aid delivery to the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas confirmed that it had agreed with Israel on a four-day truce in the Gaza Strip including the cessation of all hostilities and the release of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners. Israel's cabinet said later in the day that the truce deal provided for the release of 10 Israeli hostages per day, while Israel pledged to free Palestinian prisoners as soon as the first group of hostages returned to the country.

In addition, she praised the efforts of all sides involved in the process of mediating the agreement and called for immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas.

European Council President Charles Michel also welcomed the truce agreement and praised Egypt and Qatar's efforts to broker the truce.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi stated that Egypt would continue its efforts to achieve a lasting solution to the ongoing conflict.

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said that her country was looking forward to further actions for the settlement of the Palestine-Israel conflict.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron called on Israel and Hamas to ensure full implementation of the agreement.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna expressed hope that French citizens would also be released as part of the truce.

What is required is to provide humanitarian assistance for the civilian population during the truce, Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani stated.

The hostage release deal between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas is an "important bit of progress," but more efforts are still required to achieve a lasting peace, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Israel and Hamas confirmed that they had agreed to a four-day humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip, with the cessation of all hostilities and the release of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

The Prime Minister added that Canada and several other countries have long been calling for a humanitarian pause that would allow for the release of hostages, while also allowing humanitarian assistance for the people in Gaza.

The conflict in Gaza has a huge potential to spillover and can threaten the whole world, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to the United Nations Lana Nusseibeh stated on Wednesday.

The deal between Israel and Hamas to establish a four-day halt in all fighting in the Gaza Strip is not enough to end the suffering of civilians, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Israel and Hamas confirmed that they had agreed to a four-day pause in Gaza, with the cessation of all hostilities and the release of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.

WHO continues to call for the release of all hostages and a ceasefire to allow Gazans to receive "sustained, safe and scaled up support for recovery," he added.

The UN Security Council resolution on Gaza calling for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in Gaza and an immediate release of hostages must be urgently implemented, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia stated on Wednesday.

After the resolution was adopted, it is important that the UN Secretary General provides the council with proposals especially regarding the monitoring mechanism, the diplomat added.

Only an immediate ceasefire can change the unacceptable humanitarian situation in Gaza and not short pauses in fighting, the ambassador stressed.

“There's no doubt that no humanitarian pause can change this unacceptable situation,” Nebenzia stated. “An immediate ceasefire in the conflict zone is necessary. Only this will make it possible to avoid new casualties and to ensure that necessary humanitarian assistance is provided to those in need, particularly children,” the diplomat emphasized.

Russia is concerned about the mass killings and injuries of children in Gaza by the Israeli military, including during attacks on schools and hospitals, the ambassador stated.

The diplomat called Israeli bombings of mosques, churches, refugee camps, UN facilities with women and children a blatant violation of the international humanitarian law.

The UN's relief chief said Wednesday in an interview with CNN that the humanitarian impact of Israel’s war on Gaza was unprecedented in his decades-long career in humanitarian affairs.

He noted that 68% of people killed in Gaza were women and children, with "more children killed in this conflict than in any other that we can think of."

Griffiths pushed back at attempts to dispute the death toll in Gaza, noting that UNRWA had a long history of working with Gaza's health ministry. He also pointed out that it was rather "academic" to be disputing the death toll by the hundreds or even thousands, given how "awful" the toll clearly was.

The UN's relief chief added that he hoped the two-state solution would "get the attention it deserves" following the massive death toll in Israel’s war on Gaza.

He suggested that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been wary of involving the UN in some kind of post-war governance role in Gaza in order to avoid promoting the idea that the organization could find a "quick solution to the very very real problem."

The official emphasized that the secretary-general was right to discuss the looming post-war problem, adding that the more discussion, the better.

Griffiths stated that the UN hopes to return to northern Gaza to repair its facilities during the proposed temporary ceasefire.

Griffiths acknowledged Israel’s stated plan to shift the focus of its military operations to the south, where it had been directing Gazan residents in the north to evacuate. He described the north as "an area of desolation. We fear terribly about this being repeated in the south."

Fifty-six Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank over the past six weeks, "scores" have been displaced and 450,000 children are in need of humanitarian assistance amid the Israel military operations, UN Children's Fund Executive Director Catherine Russell.

In Gaza, more than 1.7 million people, including about 850,000 children, have been displaced and 5,600 children have been killed in just over 46 days since the beginning of the escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the UN official stressed.

An additional 1,200 children are estimated to be under the rubble of the bombed-out buildings in Gaza, Russell added.

The executive director pointed out that Gaza today is the most dangerous place in the world for children and called for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire rather than short pauses in fighting.

The level of contamination by explosive remnants of the war in Gaza will be unprecedented with tens of thousands dangerous elements scattered across Gaza and will pose a threat for decades, Russell stressed.

The United Nations is pleased about the Israel-Hamas four-day ceasefire and urges using this opportunity to immediately reach the desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Natalia Kanem said on Wednesday.

The United Nations is also worried than most of the hospitals in Gaza have been shut down or damaged, and various civilians in need of medical help, including pregnant women, are in danger, the executive director stressed.

The United Nations has deep concerns about the safety of women and girls in war-torn Gaza, Kanem emphasized.

Iraq considers the US's air strike on a Shia militia post in southwestern Baghdad to be an "unacceptable violation of the country's sovereignty," government spokesman Basem Al-Awadi said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that the US had carried out two precision strikes against two facilities in Iraq in response to recent attacks against US forces in the Middle East. A law enforcement source told Sputnik that six people were killed and several others were injured as a result of the strike.

The US strike violates its mission in the work of the international coalition to fight the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia), he added.

Iraqi Shiite group Kataib Hezbollah stressed it would not leave unanswered a US airstrike on the group's position southwest of Baghdad that killed eight of its fighters.

South Africa welcomes the agreement between Palestinian movement Hamas and Israel to establish a four-day humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on Wednesday.

The president expressed hope that the agreement between the two sides would boost efforts to achieve a full ceasefire.

A humanitarian pause and hostages exchange agreed by the Israeli government and the Palestinian movement Hamas should include three US citizens, but the Biden administration will not have complete information on their identity until they are released, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated on Wednesday.

The director of Israel’s Mossad will visit Doha on Wednesday to meet with Qatar’s prime minister and other officials to finalize the details of a temporary ceasefire and hostage exchange with Hamas, Axios reported, citing two unnamed sources.

Mossad Director David Barnea has been Israel’s lead negotiator, the report said. US and Israeli officials have both warned that talks over the next 24 hours are very sensitive and the agreement could still be derailed.

A Hamas official stated Wednesday that the ceasefire would start on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. local time. One Israel official confirmed the time, while another said it would be determined on Wednesday. Another official said the ceasefire would start when the first Israeli child hostage was repatriated.