Guns discovered by the IDF on a prayer rug in a basement prayer room of a mosque, protecting a secret tunnel. Photo: Screenshot / IDF.

A Hamas training manual published by the engineering corps of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the terrorist group’s military arm, tells Palestinian civilians living in Gaza how to build and store bombs in their homes.

Such recommendations further demonstrate Hamas’ desire to put civilians into harm’s way. Secondary explosions consistent with storage of munitions in civilian areas have been observed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the beginning of the latest conflict in July.

The terrorists aim “to transfer combat from open areas to built-up urban areas, which serves the ‘resistance’ [i.e. Hamas] and fighters of Islamic Jihad,” according to the manual, seized by Israeli troops during Operation Protective Edge.

The manual tells “jihad fighters” to take advantage of private residences to evade Israeli intelligence-gathering efforts. It also suggests that doing so enhances the element of surprise.

According to an IDF translation of the section titled “Factors for Successfully Hiding Weapons in Homes,” the Al-Qassam Brigades recommends:

(1) The activity of hiding weapons in homes needs to be done with secrecy and should not have a military character.

(2) Placing equipment in residential areas needs to be done with household items.

(3) You must use residents of the area in order place the equipment inside.