Day 245: IDF reveals details of strike on UNRWA school containing Hamas compound

Hagari: IDF strikes terror compound in UN facilities for 5th time in past month

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After Hamas claimed Israel had carried out a "massacre" in a UNRWA school, the IDF on Thursday revealed more details about the precise, intelligence-based strike targeting dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists hiding inside the Gaza school overnight.

Some of the terrorists eliminated in the attack participated in the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7.

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari emphasized that the strike was based on “concrete intelligence, from multiple sources.” He confirmed that the intel revealed the terrorists “were planning more attacks against Israelis, some of them imminent.”

Hagari noted that intelligence indicated the terrorists were operating from inside three classrooms within the UNRWA school. He said the IDF delayed the strike two times after identifying civilians in the area.

After identifying the school as the location of a Hamas base of operations, the IDF monitored the school through aerial surveillance for several days.

Hagari said the strike was only conducted “once our intelligence and surveillance indicated that there were no women or children inside the Hamas compound, inside those classrooms.”

Due to the complex operational conditions, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) used precise munitions to target the three specific classrooms where the terrorists were hiding.

The IDF spokesman also emphasized that the terrorists killed in the strike were “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, some from the 'Nukhba' force, terrorists with blood on their hands.”

The strike on Thursday was “the fifth time we have had to target Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists operating from inside UNRWA facilities,” Hagari stated.

The IDF spokesman remarked that Hamas “hopes that international law and public sympathy will provide a shield for their military activities,” reiterating that this was “the fifth time we are operating against Hamas that is using UNRWA facilities, in the last month alone.”

He slammed many media outlets for falling “for Hamas’ tactics yet again, before checking the facts.”

“While Hamas abuses international law the IDF will continue operating according to international law,” Hagari said. "The systematic abuse of UN facilities is a war crime and it must be stopped by the world.”

Hamas “systematically operates from schools, UN facilities, hospitals and mosques” in violation of international laws of war, he noted.

The IDF will continue operational activities in the areas of eastern Bureij and eastern Deir al Balah, where troops have eliminated dozens of terrorists, located tunnel shafts, and destroyed the terrorist group's infrastructure.

Israeli forces will continue “intelligence-based, targeted operations” in the Rafah area, the spokesman said. Soldiers located tunnel shafts containing numerous weapons, including firearms, grenades, vests, cartridges, and other military equipment in Rafah.