Israel maintains air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to bring the territory closer to a complete blockade to approach its offensive.
Gaza’s information blockade has become almost complete: Israel’s intensified bombing raids knocked out internet and communications in the Gaza Strip on Friday night, making the Strip’s 2.3 million residents virtually unable to communicate with each other and the outside world. Palestinian telecoms operator Paltel said the bombing had caused “complete disruption” to internet, mobile and landline services.
Relatives outside Gaza panicked after their chats with families inside the country suddenly switched off and calls stopped coming in.
Lynne Hastings, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the occupied territories, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that without phone and internet service, hospitals and aid operations would not be able to operate.
The military says it is moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it has vowed to defeat the ruling Hamas group after its bloody incursion into southern Israel three weeks ago.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said ground forces were “expanding their activity” Friday evening in Gaza and “acting with great force … to achieve the objectives of the war.”
Meanwhile, the Hamas Press Centre reported heavy overnight clashes with Israeli troops in several locations, including what it said was an incursion by Israeli troops east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The health ministry said the death toll in the Gaza Strip has surpassed 7,300, more than 60 per cent of them minors and women. The blockade of Gaza has contributed to the dwindling supplies, and the UN has warned that its relief operation for hundreds of thousands of people is “falling apart” amid an almost total lack of fuel.
By the way, more than 1,400 people were killed in Israel during the 7 October Hamas attack and at least 229 hostages were taken in Gaza, according to the Israeli government. What’s even more notable, the Israeli military released the names of 310 soldiers who died during and after the first Hamas attack. According to the military, most of them were killed on 7 October. The dead soldiers are part of Israel’s total death toll.
The total death toll far exceeds the combined death toll of all four of Israel’s previous wars with Hamas, estimated at about 4,000.
In Washington, the Pentagon said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Gallant on Friday. He “underscored the importance of protecting civilians during the Israel Defence Forces’ operations and focusing on the urgency of humanitarian aid delivery for civilians in Gaza.”
In the end, more than 1.4 million people have fled their homes, nearly half of them crowded into UN schools and shelters. People have no access to communication, food, water, or resources to sustain life. All fuel is being sent to the front lines. Aid workers say the aid that Israel has allowed in from Egypt over the past week is only a fraction of what is needed.
