Israel imposes blackout in Gaza as campaign against Hamas expands

With more bombs fired by Israeli jets and indications that a long-awaited ground offensive against Hamas terrorists controlling the Palestinian enclave was about to begin, Gaza’s besieged citizens had very little communication with the outside world on Saturday. Israel claimed that forces it had sent in on Friday night were still in the field, whereas in the preceding three weeks of bombing to destroy Hamas, which it claimed had murdered 1,400 Israelis in an attack on October 7, it had only done fleet sorties. “We attacked above the ground and under ground, we attacked terror operatives of all ranks, everywhere,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said. Israel is ordering the 2.3 million residents of Gaza to evacuate the northern area, where it claims Hamas is hiding behind residential buildings, even though there is currently no sign of a huge ground invasion. Bombs are also destroying homes in the south of the heavily populated area, according to Palestinians, who claim that nowhere is secure. Since Friday night, practically all phone and internet services have been unavailable in Gaza; Israel is at fault, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. A request for response was not immediately answered by the Israeli military. Aid organisations report that Gazans, who are completely cut off from Israel, are experiencing a humanitarian crisis. Since Israel started bombing the area, 7,650 Palestinians have died, according to health officials there. He and other relief organisations said they were unable to get in touch with their employees; nonetheless, an audio message was disseminated by an official from the International Committees of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Gaza. According to William Schomburg, medical professionals were handling personal tragedies in addition to working nonstop shifts. “I spoke to one doctor who had lost his brother and cousin the night before,” he told the BBC broadcaster in a clip the ICRC posted on X. The World Health Organization’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, claimed that the blackout was making it difficult for people to find safe haven and was hindering the evacuation of patients and ambulances. (With agency inputs)