IDF neutralizes explosive devices found in a Gaza children’s playground amid Israel-Hamas crisis

IDF. IDF personnel discover explosive devices in a children's playground in Gaza. Photo Courtesy: IDF X video grab

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IBNS: Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said its soldiers discovered explosive devices in a children’s playground connected to a kindergarten on the outskirts of the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.

IDF shared a video of the explosives on X.

IDF said the explosive had been neutralized.

“Their terror knows no bounds—Hamas planted explosives inside a Gaza kindergarten,” IDF posted on X.

Their terror knows no bounds—Hamas planted explosives inside a Gaza kindergarten.

During operational activity on the outskirts of Shati, our troops located and neutralized explosive devices planted in a kindergarten, ready to be detonated upon passing troops. pic.twitter.com/GKmdC9W7D9— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 31, 2023

“During operational activity on the outskirts of Shati, our troops located and neutralized explosive devices planted in a kindergarten, ready to be detonated upon passing troops,” the post said.

In Gaza, at least 100,000 displaced people have poured into Rafah in recent days, UN humanitarians said on Friday, worsening already dire conditions in the southernmost part of the enclave.

“A traumatized and exhausted population” is being “crammed into a smaller and smaller sliver of land,” UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths warned on social platform X on Friday.

But serious obstacles persist to bringing more aid to those in need amid relentless Israeli bombardment and intense fighting on the ground.

UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA cited reports from Gaza’s health authorities that half of all the pregnant women seeking safety in shelters in the Strip suffer from thirst, malnutrition and a lack of health care, there is a lack of vaccinations for newborns and one in every two displaced children faces dehydration, malnutrition and disease.

Some 1.9 million Gazans, or 85 per cent of the enclave’s population, have been internally displaced since the start of Israel’s retaliation following Hamas’ deadly terror attacks in southern Israel on 7 October.