Israel confirms killing 19 terrorists, denies wider casualty claims

An Israeli airstrike killed 19 terrorists in a Hamas command centre inside a mosque located in a Gaza City school compound the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday night. The army also pushed back against unverified claims of widespread collateral damage from the strike.

The 19 terrorists confirmed killed were affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The IDF released an infographic identifying each of the 19 killed and their affiliations.

"The Hamas terrorist organisation systematically violates international law and operates from within civilian infrastructure and shelters, brutally exploiting the civilian population and institutions as human shields for their terror activities," the IDF said.

"The strike was carried out using three precise munitions, which, according to professional analysis, cannot cause the amount of damage that is being reported by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza. Furthermore, no severe damage was caused to the compound where the terrorists were situated," the army said.

"Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of a small warhead, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information."

Hamas claimed 90 people were killed, a figure which has not been independently verified. Gaza's Hamas-run government has a history of inflating casualty figures.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have used schools on numerous occasions as command centers, hideouts, observation and sniping, tunnel entrances and weapons storage. Israel struck two Gaza City schools on Thursday used by Hamas for carrying out attacks.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 111 remaining hostages, 39 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.