IDF spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari revealed the identities of nine terrorists who were killed in a strike on a UN school on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, the IDF announced it had struck a UNRWA-run school in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip.
Gathering intelligence is a slow process. These are the first 9 terrorists we’ve identified as eliminated in the precision strike on the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists using @UNRWA school in Nusairat. The strike was conducted against 3 classrooms they were using for… pic.twitter.com/LUz0IPctNJ
— Lt. Col. (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) June 6, 2024
Hamas quickly announced that 27 people had been killed, with later estimates raising this to 35 or even 45 people killed.
Hagari announced that the strike was conducted after concrete intelligence showed that terrorists hiding in the school were planning an imminent attack. "We stopped a ticking time-bomb," Hagari said.
Explaining the process for planning the strike, Hagari said, "Our intelligence indicated that the terrorists were operating from inside these 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. Despite the complex operational conditions, our Air Force used precise munitions to target the three specific classrooms that the terrorists were hiding inside."
Verification of the intelligence
Hagari also clarified that some of those killed participated in the October 7 massacre, that the names released are only a few of those killed, and that more was to come following the verification of the intelligence.
He also confirmed that this was the fifth time that the IDF had been required to operate against terrorists operating from UNRWA facilities.
"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," he said.
The United States has been putting pressure on Israel to release information related to the strike.