Israel uncovers hole that Hamas used to move militants, weapons at UN school used as refugee shelter
Israeli forces discovered a hole in the wall of a United Nations school-turned refugee shelter that about 60 Hamas gunmen used to stash and access a weapons cache to attack Jewish soldiers, the army said Tuesday.
Footage taken at the three-story school in Khan Younis shows a large hole in the courtyard wall covered by a tarp, with the space allowing for easy access from the school to an adjacent building.
Just a few feet past the courtyard hole, another impromptu entrance was created on the neighboring building, where the Israel Defense Forces discovered a slew of weapons and explosives.
The Hamas weapons included several Kalashnikov rifles, warheads, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition. The IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade also located a similar weapons cache inside another nearby building.
The Israeli military alleges that Hamas operatives were hiding inside the civilian shelter and ready to use the holes to sneak to their weapons stash and attack approaching IDF troops.
The IDF says it has worked to evacuate civilians from the active battle areas in Khan Younis, with paratroopers able to arrest about 60 Hamas operatives who were found hiding in the school.
Along with the raid at the school-turned-shelter, the Paratroopers Brigade also seized the home of a senior Hamas commander who headed the Khan Younis battalion’s anti-tank unit, where Israeli troops found additional weapons and intelligence materials, the IDF said.
The IDF is continuing its move across Khan Younis as soldiers search for the location of Hamas’ senior officials and the remaining 134 Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
Hamas leaders recently confirmed that medicine delivered for sickly hostages last month was finally being distributed, according to Qatari officials.
The medication, delivered through a French-Qatari deal, was transported into Gaza on Jan. 17, but the deal made no mention of how Hamas would prove the medicine was given to the intended hostages.
The announcement from Qatar serves as the only form of confirmation, with still no physical proof that the hostages actually received the medicine.
The claim from Hamas came just two days after Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed concerns about the hostages’ well-being during the Munich Security Conference meeting in Germany.
The IDF alleges that some of the medical shipments have not reached the kidnappers after boxes of the medication listed for some of them were found still sealed at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Israel believes that 134 hostages still remain in Gaza, with as many as a fifth of them already dead.
