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.

A Reuters news videographer has been killed while working in southern Lebanon, Reuters said in a statement on Friday.

"We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed," the statement said.

Issam was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon who was providing a live video signal. "We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues," Reuters said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza would result in a level of civilian casualties that would be "absolutely unacceptable."

Putin was speaking after Israel's military called for all civilians of Gaza City - more than 1 million people - to relocate south within 24 hours, as it amassed tanks ahead of an expected ground invasion in response to a devastating weekend attack by the Islamist militant group Hamas.

He said there had been calls even in the United States for a blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on a par with "the siege of Leningrad during World War II."

"In my view it is unacceptable," Putin told reporters at a summit in Kyrgyzstan. "More than 2 million people live there. Far from all of them support Hamas by the way, far from all. But all of them have to suffer, including women and children. Of course it's hard for anyone to agree with this."

His criticism of Israel was made all the more stinging by the reference to the 1941-44 siege of Leningrad and the implied comparison between Israel and Hitler's Germany, with potential for causing deep offense in Israel.

On Friday evening, the IDF said an unmanned aerial vehicle attacked Hezbollah targets within Lebanon.

US President Joe Biden has spoken with family members of 14 Americans unaccounted for after attacks by Hamas militants on Israel, the White House said on Friday.

The IDF carried out localized raids within the outskirts of the Gaza Strip in order to complete scanning the border area for infiltrating Hamas terrorists, the military said Friday.

During efforts to locate missing persons, Israeli forces killed Hamas terror units, including one that fired an anti-tank guided missile.

במהלך היממה האחרונה ביצעו כוחות צה"ל פשיטות מקומיות בשטח רצועת עזה להשלמת מאמץ טיהור המרחב ממחבלים ומאמצעי לחימה. בפעולות אלו נעשה גם מאמץ לאיתור נעדרים>> pic.twitter.com/aQ9kwvDwSq

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 13, 2023

This is a developing story.

Russia will continue contacts with Palestinian Hamas militants primarily aimed at freeing hostages, Russian news agencies reported on Friday, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

Egypt's foreign ministry warned on Friday against calls from the Israeli army for more than one million of the Gaza Strip's residents to leave their homes and head south.

Such a move would be a "grave violation" of international humanitarian law and expose the lives of Gaza residents to danger, the ministry said in a statement.

The Palestinian United Nations envoy appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to do more to stop a “crime against humanity” by Israel, which has warned nearly half of the population of the Palestinian Gaza Strip to relocate.

“He has to do more. Whatever was done was not sufficient. We need all of us to do more to stop this crime against humanity,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters ahead of a meeting of Arab Group ambassadors at the United Nations.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah terrorists exchanged fire after a blast tore through the separation fence along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the IDF confirmed on Friday.

Israeli artillery and tank forces fired at Hezbollah military posts in southern Lebanon while responding to fire from within Lebanese territory.

Residents of nearby towns and cities were told to seek shelter until the military approves it is safe to leave. In addition, an alert was sounded for a suspected terrorist infiltration in Hanita, in Western Galilee, south of the Lebanese border.

Northern Israel residents were later told they could leave the shelters after the IDF cleared the threat of a terrorist infiltration from the North.