IDF says it took out Hamas operatives hiding in UNRWA school; 12 reported dead

The Israeli army said it took out several Hamas operatives hiding in a UNRWA-affiliated school in central Gaza on Sunday, the latest airstrike on the embattled United Nation schools-turned-shelters.

Twelve people were killed in the strike, according to the Palestinian terror group Hamas.

Israeli military officials said the attack on UNRWA’s Abu Oraiban School in Nuseirat was carefully planned after finding evidence that terrorists were operating and hiding among civilians at the site.

“The building was used for terrorists as a hiding place and as an active operational location from which the terrorists planned and carried out terrorist operations against our forces operating in the Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“Before the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precise weapons and additional intelligence information,” the Israeli military said.

“The terrorist organization Hamas systematically violates international law, brutally exploiting civilian institutions and the population as human shields for terrorist acts,” the IDF said.

The Hamas-run health ministry said 12 people were killed in the strike strike. The Hamas office does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians when providing updates.

It was not immediately clear if the Nuseirat building bombed Sunday was the same UNRWA school-turned-shelter that was hit in June in an attack that killed at least 30 people, or the one in May, which left 10 dead.

The UNRWA runs many schools across Gaza that have become shelters as the Israel-Hamas war has left nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents displaced.

The IDF has repeatedly said that Hamas’ military forces have been occupying the schools to plot attacks against the Jewish state while surrounding themselves with human shields.

Members of Hamas’ elite Nukhba wing, which helped carry out the Oct. 7 massacre, were among those killed in previous strikes against the schools.

The UNRWA has remained the subject of scrutiny after it was revealed that at least 12 staff members participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that left more than 1,200 dead in Israel.

Israeli intelligence also claims that hundreds of the roughly 13,000 staffers in the UNRWA, the sole relief agency for most of Gaza, have relatives with ties to the terror group.

Critics say Israel has yet to provide enough evidence to back its allegations. A United Nations investigation into the UNRWA remains ongoing.

With Post wires