Hamas Converted Shejaya Schools and Clinic Into Command Center, Weapons Factory

Jerusalem, 8 July, 2024 (TPS) -- Israeli soldiers raided and destroyed a Hamas command center and weapons factory in the northern Gaza area of Shejaya that had been converted from what was originally a clinic and schools, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday.

“In this compound, terrorists from the Shejaiya Battalion fortified themselves, hid and carried out terrorist activity,” the army said.

During the searches in the compound, soldiers found and destroyed a weapons production site and dozens of weapons including mortars, machine guns, grenades and intelligence documents hidden alongside other equipment and UNRWA uniforms.

Earlier on Monday, the army said it raided several terror sites in Gaza City overnight where Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were operating, including the UNRWA’s headquarters there.

In recent days, Israel also struck Hamas terror squads hiding in schools and medical clinics, including in Gaza City and two UN schools in Gaza City’s Al-Furqan and Daraj Tuffah neighborhoods.

During the weekend, Israeli forces destroyed a tunnel shaft found in the Khan Yunis City Hall which Hamas used as a gathering point, and a UN school in the Nuseirat refugee camp the terror group used as a command center.

Troops also raided a medical clinic and a UN school within a humanitarian compound in the northern Gaza area of Shejaya. Weapons, grenades and intelligence documents were seized from the school, while a war room inside the medical clinic was discovered containing communications and observation devices, and intelligence documents.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees, has been under fire for months, with Israeli officials demanding the agency be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of the agency’s staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks. The Israeli government is bypassing UNRWA in distributing humanitarian aid.

On May 30, the Knesset approved the first reading of legislation authorizing the Foreign Ministry to designate UNRWA as a terror organization and strip it of its diplomatic immunity, tax-exempt status, and other legal benefits. On the same day, the Israel Lands Authority ordered UNRWA to vacate its Jerusalem offices over violations of its lease.

Israel’s largest bank froze UNRWA’s account in February over suspicious financial transfers that the agency failed to adequately explain. That same month, Israeli forces discovered a Hamas complex located directly under the UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters and connected directly to the agency’s electricity system. The facility included numerous computer servers belonging to the terror group.

Palestinian refugees are the only refugee population with its own dedicated UN agency. The rest of the world’s refugees fall under the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Israeli officials have called for UNRWA to be closed and for Palestinian refugees to be brought under the responsibility of the UNHCR.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 116 remaining hostages, more than 30 are believed dead.