Four-hour humanitarian ceasefire to start at 3pm
At least 64 Palestinians killed and more than 100 wounded since midnight in IDF tank fire bombardments and IAF strikes.
Israel has agreed to a four-hour humanitarian ceasefire requested by the UN, that will start at 3pm and end at 7pm Wednesday.
The truce, requested by the UN's Middle Easy envoy Robert Serry, will only cover some areas of the Strip, where IDF ground forces are not deployed. The army said ongoing operations will continue uninterrupted.
The IDF Spokesman warned that any attempt by the Gaza terror organizations to use the temporary truce to fire rockets at Israeli citizens will be answered.
A spokesman from the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees said the humanitarian halt in fire was decided on without coordination with the Palestinian factions in Gaza, and is therefore unilateral and the Gaza groups are not obligated to adhere to it.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said "the ceasefire Israel declared is for the media and has no value because it does not include the areas of conflict on the border."
Meanwhile, at least 64 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Wednesday since midnight, and more than 110 were wounded, Gaza health officials said.
Seven Palestinians, including four children, were killed on Wednesday morning in IDF tank fire in the neighborhood of Tuffah, northeast of Gaza City. Seven others, four of them women, were killing in two additional IDF tank bombardments - six of them in Khan Younis and another in Deir al-Balah.
The IDF said on Wednesday morning that it hit 75 sites, including five mosques it said were being used by terrorists. At the same time, intense tank shelling was reported in some areas, including in Jabaliya.
IDF troops were exchanging fire with terrorists in Saja'iyya on Wednesday morning, while two soldiers were lightly wounded from an anti-tank missile fired at a D9 bulldozer in southern Gaza.
The cabinet, meanwhile, was expected to convene on Wednesday afternoon to decide whether to expand the operation in Gaza, or pull back.
A senior military source said Wednesday morning that the IDF destroyed three tunnels in the past 24 hours. "In a few of the sites we found new shafts that branch out of other existing tunnels," he said.
"20 terrorists were killed in the past 24 hours in several firefights, and the Air Force expanded its operations and conducted 200 attacks," he added.
Armored Corps troops found Kornet anti-tank missiles, an explosive device and other weapons in a mosque in Gaza earlier Wednesday.
Paratroopers identified two terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip, and the army killed the two with artillery fire. Later on, the troops found the entrance to a big tunnel.
IAF planes attacked dozens of terror targets across Gaza overnight, mostly in the center and north of the Strip. Among the targets were an anti-tank missile launching post and two terrorists who were trying to plant an explosive device. The IAF also struck one operations room, two observation posts, three booby-trapped houses and the houses of two terror operatives.
The Palestinians reported at least 38 people were killed in IDF attacks overnight.
Tuesday marked the deadliest day so far, with 128 Palestinians killed, according to a Gaza health official. The overall Palestinian death toll rose to at least 1,269, with more than 7,100 wounded, said the health official.
