Operation Swords of Iron: What happened on days 6-7?

Israel will destroy Hamas, no matter how long it takes, and will finish the war stronger, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an unusual address on Friday night.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "Our enemies have only begun paying the price and I will not say more. This is just the beginning."

Lapid: Netanyahu sent Israel into a frenzy for nothing

Opposition head Yair Lapid attacked Netanyahu for not giving any new information while inducing anxiety among Israelis for an unusual address during Shabbat. 

"How can Israel's prime minister send an entire nation into a frenzy for an unusual Friday night statement only to then say nothing on the hostages, the North, the evacuations," Lapid charged.

"A prime minister should not make these statements unless he has new information."

לא ייתכן שראש ממשלת ישראל יכניס מדינה שלמה לסחרור חרדה בהמתנה להצהרתו בשישי בלילה בזמן של חירום ואז לא יגיד דבר חדש לא על משפחות החטופים, לא על חזית הצפון, לא על המפונים. הצהרות כאלה לא עושה ראש ממשלה אלא אם כן יש לו מידע חדש להביא לעמו ולארצו.

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) October 13, 2023

During his short address, Netanyahu also stressed that Israel, through talks with US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin, is "ensuring the continuation of fighting" with American supply on its way to Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Thursday morning.

There will be no water, fuel, or electricity in Gaza until the return of all Israeli hostages kept by Hamas in the Strip, Energy Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday morning.

Writing on X, Katz ridiculed the idea of sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, vowing that "no switch will turn on, no fuel trucks will enter and water taps will remain dry until Israeli captives are returned home.

"Humanitarian [act] for a humanitarian [act]," Katz added. "No one can preach morality to us."

סיוע הומניטרי לעזה? אף מתג חשמל לא יורם, שיבר מים לא יפתח ומשאית דלק לא תיכנס עד להשבת החטופים הישראלים הביתה. הומניטרי תמורת הומניטרי. ושאף אחד לא יטיף לנו מוסר.

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) October 12, 2023

Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi held their first-ever official phone call on Thursday morning amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

In the phone conversation, Raisi stated that Iran and Saudi Arabia "must support the oppressed Muslim nation of Palestinians at this critical juncture," according to Iran state media Tasnim.

Raisi and the Saudi crown prince also discussed the "need to end war crimes against Palestine," it added.

There was no comment yet from Riyadh on the call.

Israel's military indicated on Thursday that it would not publish the number of interceptions of Palestinian rockets that it has carried out in the Gaza war, citing concern that such information would help Hamas.

"I'm not going to tell the enemy the number of our intercepts," spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht told reporters, outlining what appeared to be a departure from past wartime policy.

Israeli officials have previously said they were planning for possible strains on their supplies of anti-rocket interception missiles in the event of especially heavy fighting.

Former US president Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what he described as a lack of preparation for a weekend attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed at least 1,200 people in Israel.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said Netanyahu "has been hurt very badly" due to the attack.

"He was not prepared. He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared. And under Trump, they wouldn't have had to be prepared," he said.

Gallant responds to Trump attack

In a statement released on Thursday morning, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to attack Trump for his statement, in which he claimed the defense minister "hopes Hezbollah will not attack Israel from the North.

"This is unfounded speculation - we are confident in the IDF's ability to strike all our enemies."

Robert (Robby) Berman, an American-Israeli tour guide and author, is offering one million NIS to any individual in Gaza willing to help release an Israeli captive from Hamas. 

In a recent interview with Fox Business, Berman mentioned that he has established a fund dedicated to financially rewarding Palestinians who assist in the rescue of Jewish prisoners.

"Currently, about 200 of my Israeli brothers and sisters are held hostage," Berman shared with Fox Business. "I've been tirelessly reaching out and securing commitments. Through this fund, we now promise 1 million shekels to any Palestinian in Gaza who aids in the rescue of a Jewish captive." 

US President Joe Biden is considering re-freezing the $6 billion dollars unfreezed in August for Iran following Hamas' surprise attack and massacre of Israelis, Bloomberg reported on Thursday morning.

This is a developing story.

There are significant growing signs of Hamas control over Gaza already starting to falter, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday, six days into the war started by its invasion of Israel's South and five days into overwhelming Israeli counter-airstrikes

Hagari stopped far short of saying it had completely lost control, recognizing that the terror group continues to fire rockets into Israel in significant numbers and continues to initiate small-size attacks on land and by sea.

However, he said that Hamas' high command is much more cut off from those decisions now and that more attacks are being carried out by isolated sub-commanders on the ground who are not necessarily part of a coordinated strategy.

For example, Hagari said Hamas is no longer aware in real time which of its commanders are alive or dead and has a delay in replacing them due to the large numbers of dead commanders occurring on a rolling basis from Israel's counterattack in the South and the constant airstrikes.

Israel to explain Gaza electricity, water cut-off

On the flipside, Hagari said that Israel will likely explain to the world later today what its legal position is on cutting off Gaza's electricity and water.

IDF fighter jets carried out a night of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, targeting Hamas' elite fighting unit Nokhba, which spearheaded the mass infiltration from the Strip on Saturday.

The Israeli military attacked several operational headquarters from which Hamas organized the terrorist encroachment into Israeli territory.

IDF kills Hamas' senior naval officer

The IDF also announced it had successfully targeted Mohammed Abu Shamala, a senior Hamas naval forces official.

The IDF struck his home, which it said was used to store maritime weaponry that would have been used to attack the State of Israel. 

במהלך הלילה צה״ל יצא לגל תקיפות עצים במטרה להמשיך ולפגוע בכוח הקומנדו של ארגון הטרור חמאס המכונה ״נח׳בה״, על ידי תקיפת מפקדות מבצעיות אשר שימשו פעילים שחדרו לישובי העוטף בשבת האחרונה>> pic.twitter.com/12CXXYIAWm

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 12, 2023