IDF hits Hamas command center in former Gaza school
The Israel Defense Forces overnight Saturday conducted an airstrike against Hamas terrorists embedded in a former school in Gaza currently being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians.
According to the military, the terrorists planned and conducted attacks on Israeli troops in the Strip and civilians in Israel from the Musa Bin Nusayr school, located in the area of Daraj Tuffah.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” according to the IDF.
“This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law. The IDF will continue to operate against Hamas in defense of the citizens of Israel,” added the military.
The IDF expanded its counter-terrorism operations in northern Gaza to the Beit Hanun area after forces of the Kfir Brigade wrapped up a raid in Beit Lahiya, the military said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
The operation west of Beit Hanun was launched following “intelligence information about the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area,” the IDF stated, adding that Air Force fighter jets and artillery forces neutralized terrorist targets before the soldiers entered the area.
IDF ground troops already “eliminated several terrorists and destroyed terror infrastructure” in the first hours of the operation, the army said.
Amid the operations in Gaza’s north, Jerusalem continues “to support and facilitate humanitarian responses for the civilian population of Gaza,” the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), part of the Israel Defense Ministry, said Sunday morning.
Among other humanitarian responses, Israel delivered 5,000 liters of fuel to Beit Lahiya’s Kamal Adwan Hospital; coordinated the medical transfer of more than 100 patients, caregivers, and other individuals; and facilitated the entry of “hundreds of food packages” into Gaza.
Also on Sunday, a delegation led by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, entered the Strip ahead of Christmas.
“With Christmas approaching, humanitarian aid was delivered last Thursday on behalf of the Patriarch’s delegation,” COGAT said.”Israel takes steps in cooperation with the Christian community in order to ease conditions for the Christian population of the Gaza Strip, including coordination of departures from the Gaza Strip to third countries.”
IDF ground forces entered Gaza on Oct. 27 following weeks of airstrikes in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and abducted more than 250.
Source » jns.org
