Israel Defense Forces launched a punishing airstrike against Hamas militants hunkering down in a school run by the United Nation’s organization for Palestinian refugees near the center of Gaza Tuesday, claiming it targeted a “war room” full of fighters who participated in the bloody Oct. 7 terror attack.

Israel says of the 15 people killed in the strike on a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in Nuseirat, “more than 10” belonged to Hamas, though it didn’t offer details about the identities of the others.

Earlier in the day, IDF forces killed “dozens” of Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza city of Jabalya in some of the fiercest fighting in the region in two months, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Israeli forces claimed the strike was executed using precision munitions to help minimize civilian casualties.

However, the strike also hit a residential building reportedly holding “dozens” of refugees who had fled Rafah days earlier. Gaza Civil Defense reported pulling eight bodies from the rubble of the destroyed three-story home, mostly women and children, and rescuing several others.

IDF said the room inside the UNRWA school had been used by Hamas’ Nukbha wing to plot a series of attacks against Israeli troops in recent weeks.

According to Israeli intelligence, the eliminated Nukhba militants were among the Hamas members who massacred more than 1,200 Israeli civilians.

The embattled UNRWA has come under fire in recent months following accusations from Israel that hundreds of its roughly 13,000 employees in Gaza belonged to militant groups including Hamas.

Israel’s accusations prompted major international backers to withhold millions of dollars from the organization, though it has not provided evidence to back up its assertion.

With Post wires