IDF says the 13 people killed in Tuesday strike on Lebanese coastal town were Hamas operatives

This week’s Israeli airstrike against a Hamas training facility in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon killed 13 members of the terror group, the IDF confirms.

According to the IDF, among those killed in the Tuesday strike was Jawad Sidawi, who was involved in training Hamas operatives “to carry out terror attacks from Lebanese territory against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

The IDF slams the Lebanese state, saying that it “pledged to disarm the armed factions in the Palestinian camps, yet the terrorist organizations continue to cynically exploit the population and civilian infrastructure for terror purposes.”

“Despite the denials of Hamas, the training facility is clear proof of the organization’s attempts to establish itself in Lebanon,” the military says.

The military says it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using “a precision munition, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”

“The IDF is operating against Hamas’s entrenchment in Lebanon, and will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate,” the military adds.