Israel has agreed to daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza, according to a Thursday press briefing from a US national security spokesperson.

John Kirby, the President’s National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, said that “the Israelis have announced some potentially important steps” and “there will now be two humanitarian corridors allowing people to flee the areas of hostilities.” Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand. Kirby also asserted “as we’ve said repeatedly: This is not our military operation.”

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday reiterated Dujarric’s sentiments, called for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and confirmed that over 100 staff members for the UN’s Palestinian relief agency had been killed since the Israeli bombardment began. The UN’s Palestinian relief agency reported that the number of people displaced by the conflict continues to increase. Since October 7th, Israeli bombardment has made 13 of 22 UN refugee health centers nonoperational, two UN schools were impacted by the bombardment of a mosque, and over 550 have been killed while sheltering in UN facilities.