Major Roni Kaplan, Spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.
Early on Saturday (today 10.8) we reached an active military installation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The property functioned as a school (Al-Taba'een in Daraj Tuffah, Gaza City) before the Hamas massacre on 7/10.
Approximately 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including senior commanders, were using the Al-Taba'een compound to carry out terrorist attacks against our Forces and against the State of Israel, as well as as a hideout to plan and advance attacks.
Multiple measures were taken to minimize harm to civilians, including the use of precise intelligence, precise munitions, aerial surveillance to mitigate damage, and comprehensive intelligence.
Only the men's section of the mosque was hit, that's where the terrorists were. There were no women or children in that area. The operation was carried out following preliminary confirmation of our intelligence that the mitigation of damage to civilians was maximized.
The floor was attacked with three small, precise munitions that could not have
Caused the level of damage reported by Hamas.
There is a pattern of systematic abuse of former schools by Hamas for military activities:
-Hamas systematically violates international law by cynically exploiting individuals and civilian infrastructure. They intentionally use the population in Gaza as human shields to carry out their terrorist operations.
-For us, damage to civilians is a tragedy. For Hamas it is a strategy.
-That is why Hamas embeds itself within civilian infrastructure (such as schools,
hospitals, universities) turning these civilian institutions into legitimate military objectives in combat.
After we reach these military objectives, Hamas fabricates figures of wounded and dead.
-The figures published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza do not match the information held by the IDF.
-The IDF emphasizes the precision and accuracy of the attack and advises the media to be cautious in accepting information from Hamas sources, which have proven to be unreliable over the years.