The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday that it rejected claims by Hamas that an attack Monday on a terrorist command center hidden inside a humanitarian area in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza had killed scores of civilians.

On Monday, the IDF announced the strike:

A short while ago, with the direction of IDF and ISA [Israel Security Agency] intelligence, the IAF struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis.

The terrorists advanced and carried out terror attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel.

Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional means.

The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to systematically abuse civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, including the designated Humanitarian Area, to carry out terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops.

Reports then circulated in the media of a large crater in the humanitarian area, with Hamas claiming that the IDF airstrike was responsible for “killing or wounding 65 people,” according to USA Today. Alternatively — and in the same article — different numbers were used: “The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of fatalities at more than 40. It said that at least 60 others were wounded in the strikes and many remained missing.”

Later — as often happens — reports of casualties dropped far lower, with Al Jazeera reporting a figure of 19 dead (the URL of the Al Jazeera article still reads: “heinous-at-least-40-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-tent-camp-officials-say”).

The IDF released another statement on Tuesday:

Overnight, following IDF intelligence, the IAF conducted a precise strike on a number of senior Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis. Among the terrorists struck was Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, Head of Hamas’ Aerial Unit in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, the terrorist Osama Tabesh, Head of the Observation and Targets Department in Hamas’ Military Intelligence Headquarters, and Ayman Mabhouh, another senior Hamas terrorist, were struck during the operation.

These terrorists were directly involved in the execution of the October 7th Massacre and have been recently operating to carry out terror activities against the IDF and the State of Israel. 

Prior to the strike, extensive intelligence gathering was conducted, as well as continuous aerial surveillance in the hours leading up to the strike, which confirmed the presence of the terrorists in the area alongside additional terrorist operatives.

According to an initial review, the numbers published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza, which has consistently broadcast lies and false information throughout the war, do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike.

Despite the extensive measures taken by the IDF to enable the Gazan population to move away from combat zones, including by designating a Humanitarian Area, the Hamas terrorist organization continues to embed its operatives and military infrastructure in the Humanitarian Area and systematically use Gazan civilians as a human shield for its terrorist activities.

Hamas-run agencies have consistently reported wildly inaccurate casualty figures, as in the supposed Israeli attack on Al-Ahli hospital, which was the result of an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that landed in the hospital parking lot, and which killed, at most, 50 people — not 500 people, as the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry had first reported.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told reporters Tuesday that there was a “familiar pattern” of Hamas reporting “vastly inflated” casualties, which the media reported before the IDF published the correct information. He urged the media not to report Hamas casualty figures, which he said were “invariably” lies to push a Hamas narrative.

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 Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.