IDF says it found Hamas rocket-making lab, weapons and tunnel entrance inside Gaza City mosque

IDF troops of the 188th Armored Brigade located a Hamas rocket-making lab, weapons, and a tunnel entrance inside a mosque in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, the military says.

“I want you to understand: A mosque, in the Zeitoun area, was being used as a lab for making weapons,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says in an evening press conference.

“Troops enter the mosque, carry out scans, and make sure there are no traps. They head inside this mosque and find a tunnel shaft… and a staircase,” he says.

In the basement, Hagari says the troops found “a workshop for making rockets.”

A tunnel shaft inside a mosque in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, located by IDF troops, in a handout image published November 20, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

“Terrorists manufacturing rockets in a mosque. Using Islam and the symbols of Islam to create terror,” he charges.

Zeitoun is a Hamas stronghold in the south of Gaza City.

Parts of munitions found inside a mosque in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood by IDF troops, in a handout image published November 20, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

Hagari says the IDF will continue to expose Hamas’s use of civilian sites for terror.

The 36th Division troops also directed several airstrikes in Zeitoun against Hamas operatives, as well as located a rocket-making lab, weapons, explosive devices, a drone, and a tunnel inside a mosque in the neighborhood. (7/7) pic.twitter.com/pEHa09ZAYr

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 20, 2023