Operation Swords of Iron: What happened on Day 12?

US President Joe Biden pledged to do everything possible to secure the release of over 200 people held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, including some US citizens.

“There is no higher priority than the release and safe return of all these hostages,” Biden said during a one-day solidarity mission to Israel.

Some 3,478 have been killed so far in Gaza in the war between Israel and Hamas, with 12,065 wounded, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry announced on Wednesday afternoon. 

National Unity Party MK Ze'ev Elkin claimed that he thinks some of the weapons used by Hamas on the October 7 massacre came from Russia in a Wednesday interview with 103FM.

"I'm not sure that they know exactly how it got there, intentionally or unintentionally, or through all kinds of intermediaries," he said after being asked if Israel had information about Russian involvement in the murderous attack by Hamas.

"But what we do know is that these Hamas terrorists were trained in Syria and Lebanon by Hezbollah and the Iranians," he continued. "And it is clear that there is very close cooperation between the Russians and the Iranians in Syria."

Elkin continued to say that Israel has no interest in a war in the North while it is fighting against Hamas in the south.

"We said it loud and clear, we prefer to manage a war in one center rather than two. Is it entirely up to us? Of course not."

In Israel’s wars with its enemies, there has always been a built-in tension between public diplomacy needs and military considerations. 

The diplomats want things to be exposed; the IDF wants to hold things back to not expose its intelligence-gathering methods or “burn” intelligence sources. The diplomats want the world to see; the IDF does not want them to see too much.

On Tuesday evening, soon after Hamas blamed Israel for the bombing of the al-Ahali hospital in Gaza City, Hamas’ propaganda machine leaped into action and immediately circulated to the world that Israel struck the hospital and killed hundreds. 

Many in the mainstream media parroted Hamas’ line, and within minutes, it seemed that the whole battle for public opinion had been flipped on its head. Israel went from being the victim of an ISIS-style massacre to the perpetrator of a slaughter at a Gaza City hospital.

British intelligence services are analyzing evidence to independently establish the facts about Tuesday's deadly blast at a Gaza hospital, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday.

"We should not rush to judgments before we have all the facts," Sunak told lawmakers.

"Our intelligence services have been rapidly analyzing the evidence to independently establish the facts. We are not in a position at this point to say more than that."

The IDF will do everything it can to prevent harm to civilians during its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised US President Joe Biden during his visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

“As we proceed during this war Israel will do everything it can to keep civilians out of harm’s way. We have asked them and will continue to ask them to move to safer areas.

“We will continue to work with you to ensure that the minimal requirements are met,” he said.

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, said on Wednesday during a press conference that the US and all Western countries that support Israel "hold full responsibility for the war against civilians in Gaza".

The Knesset passed a law on Wednesday that would enable National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to announce a state of emergency, changing the rules on prisoner accommodation.

As per the law, if a state of emergency was declared, prisons would be allowed to hold more prisoners in a single cell than usual and have prisoners sleep on two mattresses instead of beds.

Ben-Gvir would only be allowed to enact the law with the consensus of the Israel Prison Services chief, the prime minister, and the defense minister. The state of emergency would be valid for five days and can be extended for another five days at a time up to 30 days.

The international community "must protect innocent civilians and punish Hamas", Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on Wednesday, commenting on the Gaza hospital strike in which hundreds of people died.

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that controls Gaza, has blamed the blast on Israel. Israel says it was a result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group in the enclave.

British foreign minister James Cleverly said on Wednesday that "cool heads must prevail" and that too many people jumped to conclusions around a blast at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday.

Last night, too many jumped to conclusions around the tragic loss of life at Al Ahli hospital.

Getting this wrong would put even more lives at risk.

Wait for the facts, report them clearly and accurately.

Cool heads must prevail.

— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) October 18, 2023

Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should impose an oil embargo and other sanctions on Israel and expel all Israeli ambassadors, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Wednesday.

An urgent meeting of the OIC is taking place in the Saudi city of Jeddah to discuss the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after a blast at a Gaza hospital late on Tuesday killed large numbers of Palestinians.

"The foreign minister calls for an immediate and complete embargo on Israel by Islamic countries, including oil sanctions, in addition to expelling Israeli ambassadors if relations with the Zionist regime have been established," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Amirabdollahian also called for the formation of a team of Islamic lawyers to document potential war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.