Following an overnight strike by the Israeli military at an UN-run school in Gaza, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of using UNRWA facilities. He said that the strike “stopped a ticking time bomb”, when they struck at the facility.

“In the last months alone, Hamas waged war on schools and hospitals. Hamas hopes that international law and public sympathy will provide a shield for their military activities, which is why they systematically operate from schools, UN facilities, hospitals, and mosques,” Hagari said.

He said that the IDF conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike that targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists hiding inside a UN school in Gaza, adding that some of these were also involved in the Hamas massacre of October 7.

“Our intelligence indicated that the terrorists were operating from inside these three classrooms…three classrooms. We delayed our strike twice because we identified civilians in the area. We had aerial surveillance that had been monitoring the Hamas compound for a few days. We conducted the strike once our intelligence and surveillance indicated that there were no women or children inside the Hamas compound inside those classrooms.”

The Israeli strike reportedly killed at least 40 people.

According to IDF, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who belonged to the Nukhba Forces were operating in the compound.

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, IDF said in a statement.