The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video on Saturday showing troops battling a terrorist who shot at them from within an exposed tunnel shaft in the ground in Gaza.
In the battle footage, the Israeli soldiers are seen moving toward a tunnel, when the smoke of gunfire is seen at the mouth of the tunnel. The soldiers fire and withdraw. One soldier pulls the pin on a grenade and drops it into the tunnel shaft before withdrawing again. He does the same with a second grenade, after telling fellow soldiers to cover him by firing at the tunnel.
In a statement, the IDF described the battle (original emphasis):
“There’s a positive ID on an enemy inside the shaft, I’ve thrown a grenade. Target likely eliminated”: the 188th Brigade in close-quarter combat with a terrorist firing from a tunnel shaft
The 188th Brigade identified a tunnel shaft near a school in the Shejaiya area, and a terrorist inside opened fire at the forces. The soldiers returned fire, neutralized the terrorist and destroyed the tunnel shaft.
Over the past few days, the brigade has been operating in the Shejaiya neighborhood. The brigade’s soldiers identified combat gear in homes, schools, and other civilian sites.
The IDF has battled many terrorists using schools in Gaza as cover, and has found weapons, tunnel shafts, and even weapons factories within or near schools. It has also rejected claims, amplified by Al Jazeera, that it has killed civilians inside schools.
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.