Hagari: ‘High probability’ that senior Islamic Jihad commander was at Gaza City school at time of IDF strike

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an English-language video statement says that according to “various intelligence indications” there is a “high probability” that the commander of Islamic Jihad’s Central Camps Brigade, Ashraf Juda, was at the Taba’een school in Gaza City when it was struck this morning.

He says it is not yet clear if Juda was killed in the strike.

“Increasingly in recent months Hamas has focused on exploiting school buildings, often where civilians are sheltering inside, to use them as military facilities, command and control centers, for storing weapons, and to execute terrorist attacks,” Hagari says.

“After we received clear intelligence of the threat posed by these terrorists, and in accordance with international humanitarian law, we took numerous steps to mitigate the risk to civilians. The IDF conducted a precision strike against the terrorists in one specific building of… pic.twitter.com/vViGhLzU4b

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 10, 2024

“Over the last few weeks, our intelligence has been closely monitoring an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility, where approximately two dozen Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were operating,” Hagari says.

“The names of 19 of these terrorists operating in this compound were published by us today. We also have intelligence indications that the terrorist Ashraf Juda, Islamic Jihad’s brigade commander of the Central Camps, was at the compound,” he says.

“After we received clear intelligence of the threat posed by these terrorists and in accordance with international humanitarian law, we took numerous steps to mitigate the risk to civilians, including using aerial surveillance prior to the strike and selecting very precise munitions to avoid civilian casualties,” Hagari continues.

“Early this morning, the IDF conducted a precision strike against the terrorists in one specific building of the compound. An area that, according to our intelligence, no women and children were present,” Hagari adds.

Hagari also says that Hamas’s casualty count “does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, and they do not match the information held by the IDF.”