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.

During IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari said that the IDF later Wednesday will be publicly sharing specific safe zones for Palestinian civilians to find refuge in in the coming hours at a Wednesday morning press conference to prove Islamic Jihad's rocket hit a hospital in Gaza Tuesday night.

There has been tremendous pressure from the US, the UN, and other countries on Israel to provide humanitarian safe places for Palestinian civilians amid nearly two weeks of heavy Israeli air strikes.

It was expected that some of the humanitarian issues would be concretely addressed on Wednesday due to the timing of US President Joe Biden's visit to Israel.

Still, it was unclear whether Palestinian civilians would be able to fully evacuate both because Hamas has tried to stop evacuations and because Israel and Egypt have fought about whether Cairo can take in large numbers of refugees.

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday laid out the IDF's full comprehensive intelligence case to prove that an Islamic Jihad failed rocket caused the damage Tuesday night to a Gaza hospital, leading to a still-unclear, but large, number of Palestinian civilian deaths.

The chief spokesman presented actual audio recordings in which Islamic Jihad members say out loud that they are responsible for the explosion.

Hagari also presented a detailed video on top of earlier videos put out by Israel's public relations apparatus showing different stages of the rocket's trajectory and the layout of the hospital being hit.

The press conference was highly unusual in terms of making signals and other military surveillance intelligence available to the public, showing Israel's realization that how the incident is perceived has strategic importance for global support or opposition to the next stages of the war, especially the anticipated ground invasion, which has already seemed on pause for nearly a week. 

#عاجل بعد تحقيق شامل ومعمق أجريناه في جيش الدفاع نستطيع ان نؤكد ان تنظيم الجهاد الاسلامي هو المسؤول عن استهداف المستشفى المعمداني في مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/AgIaon2uKd

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 18, 2023

There are still Hamas terror cells roaming the Negev region and waiting to come out of their hiding spots and attack civilians, according to an assessment made by the IDF on Wednesday morning.

There is also fear of attacks on the Egyptian border, according to the same report.

Immense booms in the air. Rockets. Anti-tank missiles. And of course, gunfire.

This was the environment in the North on Tuesday, one of the most violent days of the current war on that border.

In between tours of Kiryat Shmona, the Ramot Naftal/Metzudat Koach police fort area, and the Metula area (as close as reporters could get to the closed military zone), The Jerusalem Post heard it all and felt the intense, rising tension in the air.

It seemed that more people in the area and across the nation were starting to think: Maybe Hezbollah is not just testing the IDF’s readiness and doing public relations stunts to look like it supports Hamas, but is readying itself for a larger and more deadly conflict.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a strike on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians was a shocking crime, adding that Israel should provide satellite images to prove that it was not involved in the attack.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik that the attack was a shocking "dehumanizing" crime.

IDF fighter jets attacked a number of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday that killed another two Hamas operatives, according to a joint statement by the IDF spokesperson and the Shin Bet spokesperson.

Those killed were Muhammad Awdallah - commander of the anti-tank missile system of the Gaza City Brigade of the Hamas terrorist organization. The second is Akram Hijazi - a terrorist from the Hamas naval forces, who is also a weapons dealer and is responsible for directing numerous terror attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

WATCH: IDF releases more footage from the time of the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital, showing a failed launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad caused the blast, rather than an Israeli airstrie.

(CREDIT: @IDF) | Read more: https://t.co/BCMnQ3OQvt pic.twitter.com/7gbVtp7CGA

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) October 18, 2023

An anti-tank missile was fired at Israeli forces in the Shtula area and at the Lebanese border fence early Wednesday morning, the IDF spokesperson announced.

IDF forces responded with artillery fire at the source of the strikes, the IDF said. Hezbollah reportedly took responsibility for the anti-tank fire. 

Hours later, it was confirmed that four IDF soldiers were slightly injured in the attack.

The IDF has asked Gazan residents in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday to evacuate to the Al-Mawasi town in the southern area of the region - where international humanitarian aid will be directed.

The IDF also said that the open spaces to the west of Khan Yunis is also an area residents can evacuate to.