Israel Shows Proof of 19 Terrorists Killed at School as Hamas Claims 100 Dead

Since the start of this war, the terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad have systematically violated civilians and infrastructure in Gaza for terrorist activities against Israel. This includes Hamas’ extensive network of underground tunnels running underneath towns, hospitals, mosques, schools and UN facilities, which terrorists use to direct attacks, store weapons and capture Israeli hostages. Also included are hospitals in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas and Islamic Jihad have repeatedly infiltrated and weaponized, and where terrorist tunnel shafts have been discovered.

In recent months, Hamas has increasingly focused on using school buildings, often occupying civilians, as military installations, command and control centers, weapons storage locations and places to carry out terrorist attacks.

Over the past few weeks, our intelligence agencies have been closely monitoring the Hamas and Islamic Jihad operating site, where approximately 24 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were active. The names of 19 terrorists who were active in this compound were made public by us today. We also have information that the brigade commander of the central camp of the terrorist, Ashraf Judah Islamic Jihad, was present in this compound. This military compound was embedded within the Al-Tabain school building in Gaza City. After we received clear information about the threat posed by these terrorists, we took various measures to mitigate the risk to civilians, in accordance with international humanitarian law, including aerial surveillance before the attack and the selection of very precise munitions to avoid civilian casualties. Early this morning, the Israel Defense Forces carried out a precision strike against terrorists in one specific building in the compound. According to our intelligence agencies, there were no women or children in the area. In the video we released today, you can see that the compound is still intact, with no significant craters or damage to the main structures of the compound.

The systematic misuse of schools by Hamas and Islamic Jihad for military activities puts both the people of the Gaza Strip and Israeli civilians at risk and must be condemned by the international community.

After the attack, the Hamas-run Government Intelligence Agency in Gaza issued an unconfirmed casualty figure that was circulated around the world, but which did not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and did not match information held by the Israel Defense Forces.

Yayha Sinwar, who masterminded Hamas’ brutal massacre of innocent Israelis on October 7th that started this war and was appointed Hamas’ political leader last week, has said that the rising Palestinian death toll benefits Hamas’ war aims: While Israel sees civilian harm as a tragedy, Hamas sees civilian harm as a strategy.

The IDF will operate in accordance with international humanitarian law to dismantle Hamas’ military forces and return all 115 hostages being held – men, women, children and elderly. [sic] They have been in dire conditions for over 300 days. We are working to create the conditions for their return and we call on the international community to do all it can to respond to this request.

Hamas has a habit of claiming that large numbers of civilians were killed in hospitals and schools, knowing that the media will repeat such claims and that Israel will face international condemnation.

Indeed, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and hostage agreement, something Israel has agreed to in principle but Hamas has refused to do for months, hoping to use the hostages to end the war victorious.

Early in the war, Hamas falsely claimed that an Israeli airstrike on Al Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip killed 500 people. In reality, an errant Islamic Jihad rocket landed in the hospital’s car park, killing fewer than 50 people.