Israel’s defense minister told a group of pilots Wednesday that an Israeli attack on Iran would demonstrate the “preparation and readiness” of the country’s air force.

“After we attack in Iran, both in the State of Israel and in other places will understand what your preparation process includes, and your preparation and readiness,” Yoav Gallant told air force pilots and operators at the Hatzerim airbase in southern Israel. “The Air Force is a key element in this matter and anyone who tries to harm us will be harmed.”

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian urged Wednesday members of the BRICS grouping to help "end the war" in Gaza and Lebanon.

"I call on all members of the influential BRICS group to use all their collective and individual capacities to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon, " said Pezeshkian during a speech at BRICS summit in Russia.

Egypt has suggested the possibility of a short pause in fighting in which Hamas would release a handful of hostages and humanitarian aid deliveries would be ramped up, especially in northern Gaza, an Egyptian official told The Associated Press.

The official, who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Egypt and fellow mediator Qatar had discussed the idea with the United States but it was not yet a firm proposal. The official said Israel and Hamas were aware of those discussions.

France's government on Tuesday defended its decision to bar Israeli companies supplying the wars in the Middle East from exhibiting at an upcoming trade fair outside Paris.

Organizers of the Nov. 4-7 naval defense exhibition, called Euronaval, posted on the event's website that Israeli firms can take part in the show and "may have an exhibition stand, provided that their products are not used in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday as he renews his bid to broker diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

"There remains, despite everything that's happened, an incredible opportunity in this region to move in a totally different direction," he said before leaving Tel Aviv.

The five Nordic countries said Wednesday that they are “deeply concerned by the recent introduction of draft legal bills in the Knesset that, if adopted, would prevent the UNRWA from continuing its operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.”

In a joint letter signed by the region’s foreign ministers, they said that if the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees “would no longer be able to exercise its core tasks” it could further destabilize the situation in the region, "and may fundamentally jeopardize the prospects for a two-state solution.”

Jordan’s Foreign Minister announced late Tuesday that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will postpone his visit to Jordan, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi spoke to Blinken by phone Tuesday and stressed the importance of a regional cease-fire and putting an end to Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday to seize on the killing of Hamas'sl leader to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, also calling for more aid to reach the war-battered territory.

Blinken is on his 11th trip to the Middle East since Hamas's attack on Israel more than a year ago triggered the Gaza war, and his first since Israel's conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah escalated late last month.

The U.S. is making an 11th-hour effort to resuscitate some aspects of the halted cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas weeks before the presidential election and as Israel’s invasion of neighboring Lebanon intensifies, according to a senior State Department official.

Since negotiations fell apart over the summer, Americans have shifted to focus on a post-war plan for Israel and Gaza. The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity late Monday to preview Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s strategy, said that stakeholders have reached consensus on some aspects of the so-called day-after plan and that the U.S. is hopeful that this progress will create goodwill to get parties back to the table on a ceasefire.

Iran's neighbors have pledged they will not allow the use of their "soil or airspace" for any attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday, as Israel weighs a retaliation for the Islamic republic's missile strike.