The IDF and Shin Bet security agency confirmed Saturday evening that at least 19 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in a strike on the Tabeen school complex in central Gaza City, which drew sharp international criticism against Israel over Palestinian reports of dozens of civilian casualties.
According to the army, the terrorists were operating in a Hamas command and control center, which was embedded inside a mosque within the school complex, "in order to advance and carry out attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel from inside the compound."
The strike was carried out using three precision munitions, which, according to military experts, could not have caused the level of casualties reported by Gaza's Hamas-run Government Information Office.
Furthermore, the IDF claimed that the attack did not inflict significant damage on the complex where the terrorists were gathered, as evidenced by photographs taken after the strike.
(Yoav Zitun)