Rockets are launched by Palestinian militants into Israel, in Gaza May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday urged the global community to exact a “heavy price” from Hamas, as the Israeli military revealed evidence claiming to show how the terrorist organization conducts operations near civilian sites in the Gaza Strip, risking the lives of Palestinian residents.

“Hamas launches attacks from within population centers towards population centers,” Gantz declared. “The whole world must see this crime against humanity and must exact a heavy price from Hamas.”

An IDF official disclosed drone footage displaying alleged Hamas military locations in the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF has long argued that Hamas uses civilian sites for military purposes. During last May’s hostilities with the terror group, Israel came under harsh international criticism for its actions during the 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls, including the bombing of a building housing the Associated Press’ office in Gaza. The al-Jalaa building, which the IDF claimed was used by Hamas for intelligence purposes, was evacuated before the attack, leaving civilians unharmed.

One example presented to international reporters Wednesday showed footage of a Hamas terror tunnel in the Zabara neighborhood of Gaza City — located underneath an United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school and a Catholic school that serve as emergency shelters, and stretching along a medical storage compound as well as a central ambulance center.

IDF materials showing alleged Hamas tunnel infrastructure located beneath schools in the Gaza Strip. Photo: IDF

A separate tunnel used to store weapons and ammunition and mobilize Hamas fighters was exposed in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, next to a Pepsi factory and an UNRWA school.

In other footage, taken in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza, the opening of a terrorist tunnel can be seen close to the Shahid Fatehi Ashkeloni mosque, and 200 feet away from the Gamal Abed al-Nasser school, which houses classrooms and outside sports facilities. The shaft leading to the tunnel is located in the home of a Hamas terrorist, an IDF official said.

The presentation also displayed a Hamas weapons production site near the al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip — an area where, the IDF official estimated, an explosion could kill hundreds of civilians and damage health infrastructure.

Gantz spoke Wednesday at the end of a tour of Israel’s southern border, where he pledged that  “Israel will operate with precision and force against terror targets.

The defense minister also visited a kindergarten complex in the Kfar Aza area, a kibbutz in southern Israel, where the IDF was refurbishing protective infrastructure.

Infrastructure in 30 kindergartens near the Gaza border has been improved this year, with an additional 25 protected kindergartens built in the area.