WATCH: IDF Identifies Hamas Rocket Launchers Near Children’s Playgrounds, Pools

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday that it had discovered Hamas rocket launchers near sensitive sites, including playgrounds, as IDF soldiers penetrated deeper into Northern Gaza.

In a statement, the IDF said:

During fighting in the Gaza Strip, IDF soldiers are exposing how the Hamas terror organization systematically uses civilian facilities for its terror activity. IDF soldiers located rocket launchers near a children’s swimming pool, as well as launch pits and rocket launchers in an old children’s playground in the Gaza Strip. This is further proof of Hamas’ deliberate use of civilian infrastructure and civilians – including children – as human shields for its military operations.

The IDF released video footage and photos of the rocket launch sites:

Israel and independent observers have long maintained that Hamas uses Palestinian civilians, including children, as human shields. Hamas fires rockets at Israeli civilians from areas that would be difficult for Israel to fire upon — and that, if Israel did counter-attack, would trigger international condemnation.

The IDF has released such photos before, taken from the air. The ground invasion of Gaza is allowing the IDF a firsthand, up-close look at the rocket launch sites that have terrorized Israel for two decades.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.