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.

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.

Putin, whose own military has wrought devastation in Ukraine and killed thousands of civilians in nearly 20 months of war, said that using heavy weaponry in residential areas was "fraught with serious consequences for all sides."

"And most importantly, the civilian casualties will be absolutely unacceptable. Now the main thing is to stop the bloodshed," he said, speaking at a summit in Kyrgyzstanwith other countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

Putin: Israel has right to defend itself

Putin said, however, that Israel had the right to defend itself after being subjected to "an attack unprecedented in its cruelty."

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at IDF military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday, stating in reference to Hamas's assault on southern Israel and the IDF’s counterattack, “this is no time for neutrality or false equivalence.”

Making the point that Hamas is an evil group which Israel and the IDF should never be compared to when responding in self-defense, he said, "I know ISIS very well, and it's worse than what I've seen with ISIS."

Further, Austin said that Hamas has “nothing to offer but zealotry, bigotry, and death,” noting this past Saturday was “the bloodiest since the Holocaust” for Jews worldwide.

"I came here to make something clear: American support for Israel is ironclad," said the secretary of defense.

Next, he said, "For anyone thinking about trying to take advantage of this atrocity, to try to widen the conflict or to spill more blood, we have just one word: don't. The world is watching and so are we, and we aren't going anywhere."

Austin stressed that the US is powerful enough to support both Ukraine and Israel, saying "the US can walk and chew gum at the same time."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed establishing safe areas in Gaza where civilians could relocate, a senior State Department official said on Friday after Israel called for 1 million people to leave the territory.

"One of the things that we did discuss with them (on Thursday) was the need to protect civilian lives in Gaza, the need to establish some safe areas, where civilians could relocate to be safe from Israel’s legitimate security operations," the official told reporters.

The United states is engaging with the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations' relief agencies to figure out what that might look like, the official said.

Rocket sirens sounded in northern Israel near Safed and east of Haifa on Friday afternoon, with Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades claiming that it had fired an "Ayyash 250" rocket toward Safed.

The IDF confirmed that one rocket fired from the Gaza Strip was intercepted over Haifa.

Shortly after the rocket fire, Israel's fire and rescue service reported it was working to contain a fire that had broken out in an open field near Kiryat Ata.

It was unconfirmed whether the fire was connected to the prior rocket fire from the Strip.

In a barrage of rockets on the Gaza border area simultaneous to the rocket fire on northern Israel, an apartment building was hit in Sderot, the municipality said. No injuries were reported.

The impact of a rocket hit on an apartment building in Sderot, southern Israel, October 13, 2023 (credit: SDEROT MUNICIPALITY)

Metula declared a closed military zone

The rocket fired from Gaza at Israel's North come as areas near the border fence in Metula in northern Israel were declared a closed military zone on Friday, according to the municipality.

Residents of the area are asked not to stay in the city.

This is a developing story.

After a pause in rocket fire for most of Thursday night, barrages of rockets were fired toward Sderot, Ashkelon, and other locations along the Gaza border on Friday, with a number of impacts reported in Sderot and Ashkelon.

רקטה נחתה ליד בית באשקלון וחלון הממ"ד, אשר ספג את ההדף והרסיסים, הציל את חייהם.
(צילום: אינג' אברם, גדוד 239).
אנו חוזרים ומזכירים: בעת התרעה על ירי טילים, נכנסים למרחב המוגן ונשארים בו 10 דקות - לא פחות.
הנחיות פיקוד העורף מצילות חיים. pic.twitter.com/YY2VBiUfed

— פיקוד העורף (@PikudHaoref1) October 13, 2023

Multiple direct impacts were reported in Ashkelon in a number of waves of rocket fire. No injuries have been reported in any of the impacts as of yet.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, stating in reference to Hamas's assault on southern Israel that "I know ISIS very well, and it's worse than what I've seen with ISIS."

"It has been a terrible week. We have seen the horrific acts of this terrorist organization. As you know, I was the one who first planned the war on ISIS. So I know ISIS very well, and it's worse than what I've seen with ISIS," said Austin.

Netanyahu thanked Austin for the support of the US, saying "Just as the civilized world came together to fight ISIS, the civilized world must come together to help us fight Hamas. I know you stand by us and we appreciate it very much."

Areas near the border fence in Metula in northern Israel were declared a closed military zone on Friday, according to the municipality.

Residents of the area are asked not to arrive to the areas declared a closed military zone.

Mosques called on residents of the Gaza Strip not to leave their homes on Friday after Israel's military told all civilians, more than 1 million people, to relocate south ahead of an expected ground invasion that risks high casualties.

This may be the pivotal moment in fighting between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which on Saturday launched the bloodiest attack on the country since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Israel has already launched the heaviest air strikes on Gaza ever, and speculation has been rising that it will go further in a massive invasion in its bid to wipe out Hamas.

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced that 120 families have been informed by the IDF that their relatives are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.