Photo by
IDF Spokesperson on 5 March, 2024
Rockets, Mortars and Weapons Found Next to Khan Yunis School
Jerusalem, 5 March, 2024 (TPS) -- Soldiers seized rockets and other weapons next to a Khan Yunis school on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
“In the heart of a residential area, near a school that serves as a shelter for displaced civilians, we found rocket warheads, weapons and mortars,” the IDF said.
Following intelligence indications, the forces searched several Hamas infrastructures and located a weapons storage facility established by Hamas near a school that serves as a shelter for displaced civilians.
The storage facility contained rockets, mortars, remotely detonated explosives, different kinds of AK-47 rifles, listening devices, launchers, and gun magazines.
“All these were located adjacent to the school,” said Capt. R., a company commander in the LOTAR unit, a counterterror unit within the IDF.
Photos released by the IDF also showed flags featuring the logo of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
The LOTAR unit is carrying out targeted missions in the heart of the densely built areas of Khan Yunis, including raids on Hamas hideouts and strongholds in residential areas.
Israeli forces located another weapons storage site in the heart of a residential area, where they also seized dozens of rocket warheads, cartridges and ammunition. Some of the munitions were concealed in sacks and hidden in pits. Several of the sacks had the logo of the embattled UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees.
Khan Yunis is the second-largest city in the Gaza Strip and is regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Over the past day, Israeli soldiers have apprehended dozens of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists trying to flee with civilians from the city.
At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.
