Communications Cut Off in Gaza amid Heavy Israeli Bombardment

On Friday, the Gaza Strip was left without communications and Internet amid violent shelling by the Israeli army, in an unprecedented escalation since the start of hostilities on October 7.

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The Israeli army has indicated that it is proceeding with "continuous shelling of the Gaza Strip" against positions of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement that rules the territory. 

Hamas claims the strip is without Internet and communications and says it has fired rocket salvoes at Israel.

These cuts were confirmed by the Palestinian telecommunications agency Jawwal, which said in a message on its Facebook page late Friday (local time) that cell phone and Internet service in the Gaza Strip has been cut due to heavy shelling.

The company said the total cessation of all services from telecommunication companies was taking place following "heavy shelling over the past few hours that destroyed the last international routes linking Gaza to the outside world, in addition to routes previously destroyed during the aggression."

Doctors at Al Shifa hospital presented the plans of the hospital facility to the media, "everything is demarcated [and] the plans are known to everyone, [because] we have been here for 70 years," they said. 

According to the authorities, in the basement are the operating rooms, neonatal medicine and incubators. "Let international organizations come, let everyone come and see what is here," they added.

The Al Shifa hospital "is supervised by the UN and its agencies," said the health authorities, who also warned that 80,000 people are currently in the facility. The Israeli occupation regime is responsible for what happens, they said. 

On the 21st day since the recent escalation of the conflict in Gaza erupted, the number of Palestinians killed rose to 7,415, as well as those injured by the occupation forces to more than 20,500.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 7,305 residents in the Gaza Strip lost their lives, while the death toll in the West Bank rose to 110. Seventy percent of the victims in Gaza are children, women and the elderly (3,038 minors and 1,726 females), the ministry noted. 

The territory is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis, in the face of what has been seen as collective punishment against some 2.2 million Gaza residents. The Palestinian people have been suffering from the total siege imposed by Israel since October 7, with a lack of fuel, food, water and the depletion of medical equipment and supplies.