The Israel Defense Forces destroyed explosive devices and other terrorist infrastructure inside a kindergarten in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as the military continued its offensive against Hamas.
Troops found the explosives planted inside the school during searches on the outskirts of Al-Shati Camp on the northern Gaza coast.
Furthermore, 14 terrorists were killed in combined ground and aerial attacks in southern Gaza City, Beit Lahia and Khan Yunis.
IDF troops from the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion (Bedouin Battalion) uncovered two tunnel shafts in southern Gaza and destroyed them with the assistance of armored and engineering forces.
Additionally, the Israeli Air Force struck dozens of terror targets during the overnight hours, including military compounds and a tunnel.
The IDF said on Saturday night that Hamas terrorists had fired on Israeli soldiers from a Gaza school where civilians were sheltering.
Soldiers from the IDF’s 188th Brigade’s combat team had been operating in the area of a school in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, encountering Hamas squads firing from buildings. On Thursday, the military received intelligence that dozens of Hamas terrorists had entrenched themselves inside a school together with civilians.
“The terrorists took advantage of the presence of civilians in the school area in order to fire RPGs and small arms at the forces while hiding behind women and children,” the IDF said.
Forces from the 188th Brigade’s combat team raided the school and arrested dozens of terrorists.
The IDF added that at least nine tunnel shafts were found inside the UNRWA refugee camp.
Two more soldiers slain in Gaza
The IDF on Sunday allowed for publication the names of two more soldiers killed in action in the Gaza Strip.
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Eliraz Gabai, 37, from Petach Tikva, died in the center of the Gaza Strip; and Sgt. First Class (res.) Liav Seada, 23, from Tiberias, died in the northern Gaza Strip.
Their deaths bring the total casualties since the start of the Gaza ground invasion on Oct. 27 to 172; since the start of the war on Oct. 7, a total of 506 military personnel have been killed on all fronts.