U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that U.S. strikes delivered a crushing blow to Iran's nuclear program despite a preliminary American intelligence assessment suggesting that the assault inflicted only a marginal setback.

"This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop," Trump said as his administration deployed a phalanx of top officials to defend his claims that Iran's nuclear program was "completely and fully obliterated."

Iran's nuclear facilities were "badly damaged" in U.S. and Israeli strikes during the 12-day war with Israel, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told Al Jazeera English on Wednesday.

The whipsaw chain of events involving Iran, Israel and the United States that culminated in a surprise ceasefire has raised many questions about how the Trump administration will approach the Middle East going forward.

Yet, the answer to the bottom line question — "what's next?" — remains unknowable and unpredictable. That is because President Donald Trump has essentially sidelined the traditional U.S. national security apparatus and confined advice and decision-making to a very small group of top aides operating from the White House.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "very difficult day" Wednesday after seven soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, where Israel's war against Hamas was in its 21st month.

"It is a very difficult day for the people of Israel," Netanyahu wrote on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the ceasefire that ended 12 days of war between ally Israel and Iran was going "very well", while leaked U.S. intelligence cast doubt on the damage caused by U.S. strikes to Tehran's nuclear program.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that "great progress" was being made to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as a new ceasefire push began more than 20 months since the start of the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the country "refrained" from further strikes on Iran on Tuesday after he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump in a call.

Israel accused Iran of violating a fragile ceasefire agreement on Tuesday morning by firing two missiles, with Defense Minister Israel Katz immediately promising "to respond forcefully".

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed 25 people waiting for aid in the south of the Palestinian territory in the second such incident on Tuesday, bringing the number of aid seekers killed to 46.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that 25 people were killed and dozens wounded when "Israeli forces targeted civilian gatherings near Al-Alam and Al-Shakoush areas with bullets and tank shells as they attempted to reach an aid center in northwest Rafah, about two kilometers from a U.S.-backed aid distribution point."

Mediator Qatar’s said Tuesday it was working on resuming Gaza ceasefire talks in days, urging Israel not to exploit a truce with Iran to "unleash everything it wants to unleash" on the blockaded strip.

"We are still continuing our efforts, and God willing, we will try to look for an opportunity during the next two days for having indirect negotiations between the two parties... We hope that the Israeli side will not exploit the ceasefire with Iran to unleash what it wants to unleash on Gaza and continue its bombing of" the strip, said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart.

An angry Donald Trump berated Iran and Israel Tuesday for violating a ceasefire deal, adding that he was "really unhappy" with Israel in particular.

The two countries have been "fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing, do you understand that?" the U.S. president told reporters at the White House, hours after he had said a ceasefire between the two arch-foes had taken effect.