Israel on Monday confirmed that 12 more terrorists were killed in a Saturday airstrike on a Gaza City school compound used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Israel Defense Forces initially confirmed the identities of 19 terrorists on Saturday as it pushed back against unverified Hamas claims of widespread civilian casualties from the strike on the compound of the Al-Ta’been School.
Two Israeli soldiers told The Press Service of Israel that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists commonly used schools, clinics, UN facilities, homes, mosques and other civilian locations for missile launching sites, tunnel shafts, weapons storage, command and control sites, and observation and sniping posts. Both spoke to TPS-IL on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
“Most of the headquarters of Hamas that we found were in schools, UNRWA clinics, or mosques,” said a reservist named N.
“In almost every house there we found weapons and Hamas propaganda materials,” N. stressed.
A reserve officer named Y. recounted to TPS-IL, “In one of the schools we entered, we found the entrance of a tunnel that turned out to be two kilometers long. Built under a childrens school.” In another school, Y. said he and his team found “textbooks explaining how to prepare explosives and mines. The book was a chemistry book, and the examples were all how to make weapons… The schools were like greenhouses for terrorists. We understood how they brainwash their children from an early age to hate and kill Jews.”
Said Y., “Hamas isn’t ashamed to hide attack tunnels under schools, so why do I need to be afraid to fight there?” He was referring to international criticism in the airstrike’s immediate aftermath.
Hamas initially claimed 90 people were killed in the airstrike, a figure which has not been independently verified. Gaza’s Hamas-run government has a history of inflating casualty figures.
Israel struck two Gaza City schools on Thursday used by Hamas for carrying out attacks.
The schools were not in session. The IDF stressed it took measures to avoid civilian damage such as using smaller precise munitions and surveillance.
“The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law and operates from within civilian infrastructure and shelters, brutally exploiting the civilian population and institutions as human shields for their terror activities,” the IDF said.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 111 remaining hostages, 39 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
Image - IDF