WATCH: IDF reveals Hamas summer camps to train children to fight in tunnels

Israel claims Hamas has been “involving minors in terrorist activities” and has positioned children on the frontlines to “deliver messages and ammunitions”.

Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, has released a video on X, reportedly taken in Khan Younis in Gaza, revealing that for the first time a Hamas operative escorting children into a terrorist tunnel during a summer camp exercise.

“During the ongoing war, Hamas has positioned children on the frontlines, sending them to deliver messages and ammunition while its operatives hide in shelters,” IDF said.

IDF further claimed that children in Gaza are taught in schools, youth movements, and summer camps that “killing Jews and Israelis is justified”.

Terrorism is not innate, it is learned.

In schools, youth movements and summer camps, Gazan children are taught the killing of Jews and Israelis is justified, incited toward terrorism and trained to fight in tunnels, shoot and kidnap.

During the ongoing war, Hamas has… pic.twitter.com/omhIt7kRWh

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 3, 2024

Hamas using kids to transfer explosive

A report by Fox News quoted IDF saying Palestinian children being used by Hamas “to transfer explosives from place to place in Gaza, in vegetable bags and placing them in the Hamas ambushes.”

170 minors active in the military wings of Hamas & Islamic Jihad

IDF has claimed that more than 170 minors are “active” in the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.

“Children are taught by Hamas from a young age to hate Israel and Jews and already in schools, youth movements and summer camps, children undergo theoretical and practical military training,” the Fox News report quoted IDF as saying.

The Israeli force further said during the fighting in the Gaza Strip, they found documents and photographs that contained pictures of armed children, certificates of appreciation for the young terrorist operatives and active veterans associating them with the Hamas organisation and Islamic Jihad.

“Today, over 170 minors are identified as terrorist operatives in the Gaza Strip,” IDF was reported as saying by Fox News.

The photographs showed Palestinian children and adolescents armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

Children send to battlefield to deliver ammunition

The IDF claims Hamas sends children for the purposes of delivering messages and ammunition. “Also, children are sent to the battlefields after an attack in order to assess the damage and report it to the terrorists who are hiding in shelters,” they said.

With inputs from agencies