Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside a UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, the IDF confirmed on Thursday morning. The airstrike was directed by IDF intelligence and the Israel Security Agency, according to the IDF, and eliminated terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre.
The Palestinians claim that at least 39 people were killed in the air strike on the school set up by the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency in the center of the Gaza Strip.
According to a statement from the IDF spokesman on Thursday morning, fighter jets attacked directed by the forces of the 99th Division, the Intelligence Division and the Shin Bet, a compound used by Hamas located inside a UNRWA school in the area of the Nuseirat refugee camp. Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who belonged to the Nukhba Forces and took part in the murderous attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7 were operating in the compound, according to the IDF.
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Infographic of the school complex where the terrorists were operating:
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The terrorists directed terror from the area of the school while exploiting it and using it as a shelter. Several terrorists who planned to carry out terror attacks and promote terrorist activities against IDF troops in the immediate time frame were eliminated in the strike, the IDF said.
Before the strike, a number of steps were taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the strike, including conducting aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information, according to the IDF.
The Palestinians claimed that the attack hit the al-Sardi school, which served as a shelter for displaced Gazans, and the bodies were evacuated to hospitals in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
"This is a horrific genocide that shames humanity," Hamas accused. The director general of the government communications office in Gaza estimated that the death toll would rise. "We call on the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the genocide in Gaza," he said.
On Wednesday, the IDF announced the launch of a divisional operation in the central Gaza Strip in the al-Bureij refugee camp and in Deir al-Balah. At the same time as the airstrikes, soldiers of the 7th Brigade began a targeted attack on the al-Bureij area, and soldiers of the Kfir Brigade combat unit launched an attack in eastern Deir al-Balah.
The aid organization Doctors Without Borders claims that since Tuesday at least 70 dead Palestinians and more than 300 wounded were brought to Al-Aqsa Hospital following the attacks in central Gaza.