IDF: No Northern Infiltration to Israel Detected Despite Alarm; Netanyahu, Gantz Form Emergency Government

The IDF spokesman said Thursday morning that the Air Force attacked headquarters belonging to the Hamas commando unit throughout Gaza throughout the night, and that a senior member of the terrorist organization's naval force was killed in the strikes.

According to the announcement, the Hamas commando force ("Nohva") was one of the leaders of the raid on Israeli cities on Saturday, and the headquarters that were attacked were used by his fighters who participated in the attack.

It was also reported that in an attack in Rafah, Muhammad Abu Shamla, a senior operative from the Hamas navy, was killed. According to the IDF, Abu Shamla's house was also used to store naval weapons intended for attacks against Israel.

IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 33 people within two hours overnight on Thursday according to an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza.

According to the report, fighter jets attacked houses in several areas, and civil defense groups recovered the bodies of the dead.

The envoy added that since the fighting began, six neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed.

IDF Spokesperson for International Media Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus said today that the IDF "prioritizes attacking Hamas commanders. When we have intelligence indicating the location of a senior commander, we are attacking."

He made the remarks in a daily update distributed by the IDF Spokesperson to the foreign media. Conricus added that since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, it has built "a network of tunnels under Gaza City, which is the center, all the way to Khan Yunis and Rafah."

"We are trying to reach the lower layer that Hamas has built for itself," he said. "It is not intended for the entry of civilians, it is not bunkers for Gazan citizens for when Israel attacks, it is for the use of Hamas and other terrorists so that they can continue to fire missiles and send terrorists."

Earlier tonight, Conricus was interviewed by ABC, where he told the interviewer that "At the end of the war, Hamas will not have the military capability to kill or harm Israeli civilians again and definitely not to repeat the sights you saw on Kibbutz Be'eri."

Referring to the issue of the abductees, he said that this issue "is perhaps the most complex and sensitive that we are dealing with in this nightmare that we have found ourselves in."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday sharply criticized Israel for not participating in the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, saying Israel needs to “straighten themselves out” following the Hamas attacks.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing, I’ll say that. So when I see sometimes the intelligence - you talk about the intelligence, you talk about the things that went wrong over the last week - they’ve got to straighten it out, because they’re fighting potentially a very big force. They’re fighting potentially Iran, and when they have people saying the wrong things, everything’s being digested by these people because they’re vicious and they’re smart.”

“We were disappointed by that, very disappointed,” he said, referring to Netanyahu’s reaction to the Qassem Soleimani assassination.

“Bibi tried taking credit for it,” trump said laughing. “That didn’t make me feel too good.”

U.S. President Joe Biden and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed on Wednesday discussed the Hamas attacks on Israel, with the U.S. readout stressing "the importance of ensuring humanitarian assistance reaches those in need."

The U.S. said earlier Wednesday it was in active discussions with Israel and Egypt about creating safe passage for Palestinian civilians wishing to flee the fighting in Gaza.

"Terrorist groups, lone-actor terrorists and other violent extremists continue plotting possible attacks in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. Terrorists and violent extremists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities. Violence can occur in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza without warning. There has been a marked increase in demonstrations throughout Israel, some with little or no warning," the new guidance from the State Department reads.

The new guidance comes one day after U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall said the Biden administration is working on a number of different options to ensure any U.S. citizen who wants to leave Israel can do so despite the limited capacity on commercial flights departing Ben-Gurion International Airport.

"Our goal is to ensure that every American citizen who wants to leave Israel has a safe means of doing so," she said, adding "I anticipate we will be able to share this information in the next couple of days that there are a number of means of leaving if you choose to do so – either by air, to an intermediate location when you can then find a flight to come onward to the United States, or via ship or via land – again to an intermediate location where you can access a flight back to the United States."

Speaking to American Jewish leaders Wednesday night, President Joe Biden decried Hamas' attack on Israel as the "deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust," and "one of the worst chapters in human history."

"I refuse to be silent and I know you refuse to be silent as well," he said to a round of applause.

On the issue of hostages, Biden said that he has "not given up hope of bringing these folks home."

"We want to make it real clear," he said. "We're working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel, including deploying experts to advise and assist with recovery efforts."

Benny Gantz, who joined an emergency government with Netanyahu, stated on Wednesday that his cooperation with the government is "a clear message to our adversaries and to all Israeli citizens: all of us together are mobilizing." Gantz said after the Security Cabinet meeting in which he participated, "Just as people from left and right, from the city and the village, go out to fight, decisions of the government will also be made by people from different camps. Now, we are all one camp - the camp of the people of Israel."