Israel at war: What happened on days 21-22?

The Israel Defense Forces have entered the Gaza Strip and are operating on the ground with support from troops in the air and at sea, Israel's political and military leadership said Saturday night.

"Last night, additional ground forces entered Gaza, marking the beginning of the second stage of the war, whose goal is to destroy the military and political capabilities of Hamas and to bring our kidnapped citizens back," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an evening briefing. 

"We are only at the beginning of the road. The war will be tough and long," the prime minister said. But he stressed, "We are prepared for it. This is our second War of Independence. This is our mission, our purpose in life, and together we will prevail."

Netanyahu said that not only do "the people and the leadership stand behind our soldiers," but also the international community is rooting for Israel. 

"Our partners understand that if Israel doesn't win, they will be next," he said. "Many around the world understand well that Israel is not only fighting its war but a war for all of humanity, a war of humanity against barbarism."

Some three people were wounded, including one in moderate condition and two in light condition, after a rocket hit an apartment in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon, according to Magen David Adom.

תיעוד מהבניין שככל הנראה נפגע במטח האחרון; לפחות 3 פצועים | עדכונים שוטפים@OrRavid | https://t.co/rcnYWbhOCs pic.twitter.com/JsYNENpnms

— החדשות - N12 (@N12News) October 27, 2023

Footage reportedly from the scene showed extensive damage to an apartment on the upper floor of an apartment building, with smoke rising from the scene.

The IDF assassinated the commander of Hamas’s West Khan Yunis battalion, Madhat Mubasher, on Thursday night and hit over 250 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in the past day, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said on Friday.

Mubasher took part in sniping attacks and the use of large explosives against IDF soldiers and Israeli towns.

The targets hit by the IDF in Gaza included terrorist tunnels, operational headquarters, and rocket launchers.

Overnight, a Skylark drone crashed in Gaza due to a technical malfunction. There is no fear of information leaking and the incident is being investigated.

IDF enters Gaza in limited raid

Additionally, IDF infantry, engineering, and armored forces entered the central Gaza Strip and struck dozens of Hamas targets on Thursday night, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said Friday morning.

During the raid, IDF aircraft and artillery struck Hamas targets as well, including anti-tank missile launchers and operational headquarters. The Israeli forces exited the area at the end of the raid, with no injuries reported.

The National Cyber Directorate announced that it had received multiple reports of Israelis receiving WhatsApp calls from foreign numbers that immediately disconnect on riday.

The directorate is working to report the numbers in question to Meta, the company which owns WhatsApp. The directorate stressed that the call itself cannot lead to the phone being hacked and recommended that anyone who receives such calls block the number in question and not click on any files or links sent by those numbers.

The IDF published Friday an intercepted call in which Hamas terrorists could be heard describing the massacre in southern Israel as it took place on October 7.

“We’re inside. We’re going to tear them apart! Search inside the house! Listen to the gunfire, listen!” shouts the terrorist in the call.

This is the second such call released by the IDF in the last week. In addition, the IDF shared raw footage from Hamas body cameras and security cameras with members of the foreign press last week in order to show the world that Hamas committed the terrible acts of murder and destruction as the Israelis described.

The US on Friday issued a second round of sanctions on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas following its attack this month on Israeli communities, including by targeting a Hamas official in Iran and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement the measures targeted additional assets in a Hamas investment portfolio and people facilitating sanctions evasion by Hamas-affiliated companies.

A Gaza-based entity that Treasury said has served as a conduit for illicit Iranian funds to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group was also targeted, the department said. Iran backs Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Middle East.

"Today’s action underscores the United States’ commitment to dismantling Hamas’s funding networks by deploying our counterterrorism sanctions authorities and working with our global partners to deny Hamas the ability to exploit the international financial system,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the release.

“We will not hesitate to take action to further degrade Hamas’s ability to commit horrific terrorist attacks by relentlessly targeting its financial activities and streams of funding.”

The US Embassy in Jerusalem (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Israel has bombarded the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on communities in southern Israel.

We will not hesitate to take action to further degrade Hamas’s ability to commit horrific terrorist attacks by relentlessly targeting its financial activities and streams of funding.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo

Israel says Hamas killed some 1,400 people including children, and took more than 200 hostages, some of them infants, in the assault.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said on Thursday that 7,028 Palestinians had been killed in Israel's retaliatory air strikes, including 2,913 children.

Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.

Freezing US assets of those targeted, bar Americans from dealing with them

Friday's action freezes any US assets of those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.

The Treasury said it imposed sanctions on a Jordanian national who lives in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and who it said serves as the representative of Hamas in Iran, as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF) officials who train and assist members of Hamas and other militant groups.

An Iran-based commander of the Saberin Special Forces Brigade of the IRGC Ground Force was also targeted. The US Treasury said the Saberin Brigade has deployed to Syria and has provided training to Hamas and members of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Sudan and Spain-based companies were also targeted under Friday's measures, as were Turkey-based shareholders of a company previously designated as part of the Hamas investment portfolio.

The United States has said that the Hamas portfolio of investments, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, includes companies operating in Turkey, as well as Sudan, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.

This month's violence has led to fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.

The US military on Thursday carried out strikes against two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and groups it backs, the Pentagon said, in response to a spate of attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria.

As tension soars over the Israel-Hamas conflict, US and allied troops have been attacked at least 12 times in Iraq and four times in Syria by Iran-backed forces.

The IDF published Friday an intercepted call in which Hamas terrorists could be heard describing the massacre in southern Israel as it took place on October 7.

“We’re inside. We’re going to tear them apart! Search inside the house! Listen to the gunfire, listen!” shouts the terrorist in the call.

Residents living in the area near Nir’s Cliff near the Lebanese-Israeli border were instructed to enter shelters due to a suspected security incident, KAN news reported on Friday.

A senior Qatari representative met on Thursday with one of the families whose children were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

Avihai Brodetz’s wife Hagar and three children, Ofri, Yuval, and Oriya, were kidnapped by Hamas from Kfar Aza during the assault. Brodetz met with the Qatari representative on Thursday in the first such meeting between a Qatari official and family members of the hostages being held by Hamas.

Brodetz thanked the Qatari representative for his efforts to free the hostages, saying “As a parent, a father of three children held by Hamas in Gaza, I hope Qatar will continue its efforts to immediately return my wife and three children, and more than 30 children held hostage by Hamas, home."

Brodetz stressed that "more than 30 children have been held hostage for 20 days, every minute feels like hell."

Qatar has been central in the efforts to reach a hostage release deal. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim Al-Thani said on Wednesday that he hoped to see breakthroughs on the issue “soon.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attend a meeting in Lusail, Qatar, Friday Oct. 13, 2023 (credit: JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/REUTERS)

Father of kidnapped children meets with Congressmembers

Brodetz also held meetings with Congressmembers, including Ralph Neider, Tom Cotton, John Fetterman, Chris Coons, Chuck Schumer, and Jackie Rosen.

The Congressmembers expressed deep shock at Hamas’s attack and stressed that they would do everything in their power to get the children and the other hostages released.

The delegation to the US was accompanied by businessmen Eytan Stibbe and Guy Aharon as part of an international initiative to get the children released.