IDF: Troops find kid-sized explosive belts in Gaza building used to shelter civilians

Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip found a large cache of weapons used by Hamas in a building where civilians were sheltering in the northern part of the enclave, including “explosive belts adapted for children,” dozens of mortars, hundreds of grenades, and intelligence documents, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday.

Soldiers of the 261st Brigade, the Bahad 1 officers’ school in wartime, made the discovery in a search of the building, which is located near a school, a mosque, and a health clinic.

Later Sunday, the IDF said troops of the 401st Armored Brigade and Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit battled Hamas gunmen and found a cache of weapons in a school serving as a shelter in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

The IDF said the forces raided the school after receiving intelligence of Hamas operatives in the area, killing many of them in the process, while dozens of others surrendered.

“After we evacuated the [civilian] population, we found in the complex many weapons, hidden between the civilians’ equipment,” said a Shayetet 13 deputy company commander in a video, showing assault rifles, grenades and other explosive devices found in the school.

The IDF said dozens of Hamas fighters who surrendered and were interrogated by officers of the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 at the scene were taken to Israel for further questioning.

Also in northern Gaza, the IDF said earlier that troops of the Yiftah Brigade identified several terror operatives coming out of a building used by Hamas for observation, and called in an airstrike.

Meanwhile, the 460th Armored Brigade, operating in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, directed airstrikes and artillery against seven Hamas operatives and four observation positions in the area, the IDF said.

In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, where some of Hamas’s leadership is thought to be hiding, the IDF said troops of the Kfir Brigade raided a Hamas headquarters, locating weapons, including dozens of grenades and explosive devices.

The IDF says the Air Force, Navy, and ground forces struck some 200 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, as “fierce battles” continue across the enclave.

Over the weekend, 14 soldiers were killed as the military has deepened its offensive against Hamas, two and a half months into a war with the terror group following its murderous assault on October 7 in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 240, of all ages, taken hostage.

The deaths bring the number of troops killed since the start of the ground operation in late October to 153.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday by offering condolences to the families of the soldiers killed over the weekend.

“The war is taking a very heavy toll on us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” said the prime minister.

“Our forces have so far eliminated many thousands of terrorists, and we will continue with all our strength until the end, until victory, until we have achieved all our goals,” the premier declared.

Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas’s infrastructure, and has vowed to eliminate the entire terror group, which rules the Strip. It says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates, while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 20,000 people have been killed in the Strip during the war, an unverified figure that also does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

According to Israeli assessments, troops have killed some 8,000 terror operatives since the war began. Another 1,000 Hamas terrorists were killed in Israel on October 7, during the terror group’s onslaught.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.