The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) evacuated Palestinian civilians from a school in central Gaza that was being used by Hamas terrorists to fire at Israeli soldiers, and arrested and interrogated the terrorists from the building, Israel announced Saturday.

As Breitbart News reported earlier this week, the IDF has begun moving into central Gaza, the last major stronghold of Hamas.

While fighting continues in northern Gaza, and is particularly intense in southern Gaza, central Gaza had been largely untouched. As a result, Hamas terrorists had been able to fire rockets from central Gaza at civilians in Israel.

The IDF is targeting the al-Bureij battalion, one of four Hamas battalions in central Gaza.

The IDF said many Hamas terrorists had been hiding in a school:

The 188th Brigade has been operating since the beginning of the week in the Al Bureij Camp in the central Gaza Strip. During their activity in the area, the troops encountered many terrorists who attacked the forces from positions within civilian buildings and population. From the beginning of the operations in the camp, the troops located 4 rocket launchers and destroyed them, exposing five tunnel shafts.

Last Thursday, intelligence was received regarding dozens of Hamas terrorists hiding inside a school together with civilians. The terrorists took advantage of the presence of civilians in the school area in order to fire RPGs and fire at the forces while hiding behind women and children.

The troops of the 188th brigade, led by the brigade commander, raided the school and separated the civilians from the terrorists. The terrorists were apprehended and taken for further examination by the security forces.

The IDF also published photos of rocket launchers that had been dug into the ground nearby and could be operated from underground:

Rocket launchers in al-Bureij, Gaza, found near a school where Hamas terrorists were firing at Israeli troops from among civilians. (IDF)

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Saturday evening that Hamas and its leaders expected that Israel would eventually leave the Gaza Strip, thanks to international pressure, and that the terrorists were therefore continuing to fight.

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 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. 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.