Blacked-out Gaza loses all links to outside world as Israeli bombs rain down
Framed through the window of one shattered home, Gazans search the rubble of another for bodies. Photo: AP
Hamas says its ready to confront Israel’s intensified attacks in the Gaza Strip ‘with full force’ as the UN calls for a truce to allow aid and the US backs a pause for the release of hostages held by the militant group.
“In addition to the attacks carried out in the last few days, ground forces are expanding their operations tonight,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised news briefing on Friday evening, raising the question of whether a long-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza might be starting.
He said Israel’s air force was conducting extensive strikes on tunnels dug by Hamas and on other infrastructure.
The armed wing of Hamas said late on Friday its fighters were clashing with Israeli troops in Gaza’s northeastern town of Beit Hanoun and in the central area of Al-Bureij.
“The Al-Qassam brigades and all the Palestinian resistance forces are completely ready to confront (Israel’s) aggression with full force and frustrate its incursions,” Hamas said in a statement early on Saturday.
Palestinians mourn a young man killed in an Israeli strike. Photo: Getty
Israeli ground forces had massed outside Gaza, where Israel has been conducting an intense campaign of aerial bombardment since an October 7 attack by hundreds of Hamas gunmen on Israeli communities near the strip.
Israel says 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, some of them foreign nationals or with dual Israeli nationality.
Since then, Palestinian health authorities say, Israeli bombing has killed more than 7,000 Palestinians.
UN calls for truce
The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution drafted by Arab states calling for an immediate humanitarian truce and demanded aid access to the besieged territory and protection of civilians.
While not binding, the resolution carries political weight, reflecting the global mood. It passed to a round of applause with 120 votes in favour, while 45 abstained and 14 – including Israel and the United States – voted no.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby would not comment on the expanded ground operation. But he said Washington supported Israel’s right to defend itself and added: “We’re not drawing red lines for Israel.”
Kirby said the US did support a pause in Israeli military activity in Gaza to get humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity to civilians there.
He also said that if getting more than 200 hostages abducted by Hamas out of Gaza required a localised temporary pause, then the US supported that.
The Gaza Strip is now in a complete communications blackout according to service providers and aid agencies.
Cut off from the world
Paltel, the largest telecommunications provider in Gaza said, “All telecommunication services including landline, mobile, and internet have been lost in the Gaza Strip” due to a continuous intensive bombardment.
The Red Crescent Society has lost all contact with its Gaza operations room and its teams operating there, and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) also reported being unable to contact its members.
The head of the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, Catherine Russell, said her agency too could no longer communicate with staff in Gaza.
“I’m extremely concerned about their safety and another night of unspeakable horror for 1M children in #Gaza,” she posted on X. “All humanitarians and the children and families they serve MUST be protected.”
The Israel Defence Force has intensified its bombings in Gaza. Photo: AP
Much of the infrastructure of Gaza, which has been living under blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007, has been shattered by the Israeli bombing.
Power has been cut for days, crippling treatment facilities and depriving Gazans of fresh water, while half of its housing stock has been damaged and 20,000 residential units destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, according to the Hamas media office.
Palestinians said they received renewed Israeli military warnings to move from Gaza’s north to the south, but Gazans say making the journey south remains highly risky amid air strikes and claims that southern areas have also been bombed.
Many families have refused to leave, fearing a repeat of the experience of previous wars with Israel when Palestinians who left their homes and land were never able to return.
-AAP
