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.

Hamas says a female prisoner and two children, who were held hostage in Gaza after being captured on Saturday, have been released, Walla! reported.
 
Initially streamed on Al Jazeera, grainy and unclear footage shows what is believed to be a woman released with a young child and infant. The video shows the three being set free and making their way back to Israel. The events in the video are believed to have occurred on Saturday and only later streamed online.

Avital Aladgem, who was released along with the children, but is not their mother, spoke to N12 after her release with 4-year-old Negev and 6-month-old Ashel. The mother of the two children was apparently kidnapped to the Gaza Strip. 

חמאס אומר ששוחררה שבויה ושני ילדיה שנשבו במהלך המתקפה. ההודעה של הארגון מצוטטת על ידי אל-ג'זירה

— Guy Elster (@guyelster) October 11, 2023

Hamas' purpose in publishing the footage is apparently to provide a counterpoint to the international criticism of Hamas and the comparison between it and ISIS, according to Israeli media.

Hamas terrorists in an ISIS-like manner burned people alive, raped victims and shot babies in the head when they assaulted southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in a late-night address.

“Hamas is ISIS and we will destroy it like the world destroyed ISIS,” he said during a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) and former defense minister Benny Gantz who heads the National Unity party and who agreed on Wednesday to join an emergency government.

“We are fighting with full force on all fronts. We have gone over to the offensive. Every Hamas member is a dead man,” Netanyahu said.

“We saw bound children shot in the head, people burned while they were still alive and young people who were raped,” he explained. “How great is the anguish and the pain? Every family in Israel knows someone from the massacre,” Netanyahu said.