Israeli Airstrike Hits Hamas Weapons Compound In UNRWA School

Jerusalem, 22 May, 2024 (TPS) -- An Israeli airstrike hit a Hamas compound located inside a UN school in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza, destroying a weapons storage facility and killing several armed terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday.

Footage released by the army showed secondary explosions, which the IDF said were mortars and others explosives. Several terrorists were killed, including a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force. The IDF said the strike was carried out using precise munitions to mitigate any harm to civilians in the area.

The school was operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees.

Israeli forces found weapons inside another Gaza UNRWA in Jabalya on Monday.

UNRWA 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.

Israel’s largest bank froze UNRWA’s account in February over suspicious financial transfers that the agency failed to adequately explain. Israeli forces discovered a Hamas complex located directly under the UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters. Computer servers belonging to Hamas were directly connected to UNRWA’s electricity system.

Soldiers have found weapons stored in other UNRWA facilities.

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 128 remaining hostages, some 40 are believed dead.