In recent months, Hamas has increasingly utilized school buildings—often housing civilians—as military facilities. These sites have been used for command and control, weapon storage, and launching terrorist attacks, according to Hagari.
“Our recent intelligence has been closely monitoring an active military facility used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Around two dozen militants from these groups were operating at this site,” Hagari states.
“Today, we disclosed the names of 19 terrorists working at this facility. We also have information suggesting that Ashraf Juda, the Islamic Jihad brigade commander for the Central Camps, was present at the site,” he adds.
“Upon receiving clear intelligence about the threat posed by these individuals and in compliance with international humanitarian law, we took extensive measures to protect civilians. This included conducting aerial surveillance before the strike and using precision munitions to minimize civilian harm,” Hagari explains.
“Early this morning, the IDF carried out a targeted strike on one specific building within the compound. According to our intelligence, this building did not house any women or children,” Hagari notes.
He also points out that Hamas’s reported casualty figures “do not differentiate between combatants and non-combatants, and do not align with the IDF’s information.”