On the 98th day of the war between Hamas and Israel, internet and telephone connections were cut in the Gaza Strip. Israeli bombardments continue in the south of the enclave, while humanitarian aid is struggling to get through.
Telecommunication services were cut across besieged Gaza on Friday as Israeli strikes killed dozens in southern cities where hundreds of thousands are struggling to survive hunger and cold on day 98 of the war between Israel and Hamas.
In Gaza, an AFP journalist reported strikes and shelling hitting areas between the territory’s southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, which are crowded with people who have fled from the north.
Strikes in Rafah and Khan Younes
Overnight Thursday–Friday, the bombardment killed at least 59 people and wounded dozens more across the besieged territory, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
AFP footage showed black smoke billowing over Rafah and Khan Younes.
“Does anyone care about us? Why is everyone silent?” asked one mourner at a hospital where a group of Palestinians had gathered beside the white body bags of the latest casualties.
Elsewhere in Rafah, resident Fayad Abu Rjeila surveyed the wreckage of a building after an Israeli strike he said had killed civilians in their homes.
“They had nothing to do with anything. People who just wanted to live,” he told AFP. “Why did they target them?”
Israel’s military said its ground forces and air strikes had destroyed more than 700 rocket launchers in Gaza since the war began on October 7.
‘Gaza Blacked Out’
On Friday, all internet and telecommunications services in Gaza were cut as a result of the Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian territory, the main operator, Paltel, said.
“Gaza is blacked out again,” it said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 23,708 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest health ministry figures.
Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment, alongside a ground invasion, since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7 and also seized around 250 hostages.
The unprecedented attack by the Islamist group resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Medicines for Israeli Hostages
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that a deal had been negotiated with Qatar to get medicines through to hostages still being held in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israeli campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a report saying the captives were in poor health, some with complex illnesses, others with injuries.
The charity Oxfam International said on Thursday that the daily death toll in Gaza was higher than in any other major conflict this century, with an average of 250 people killed daily.
Oxfam’s Sally Abi Khalil said it is “unimaginable” that the international community stands by “while continuously blocking calls for a ceasefire.”
In northern Gaza, the World Health Organization said it had reached Gaza’s largest hospital on Thursday, delivering desperately needed fuel and medical supplies.
“The team reported that Al-Shifa, previously Gaza’s premier hospital, has (partially) re-established services,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN aid agency OCHA’s office in the occupied Palestinian territories, told AFP on Friday that Israel was constantly blocking humanitarian aid convoys into northern Gaza.
‘Legitimate Targets’
Amid fears of Israel’s war against Hamas spreading, American and British forces launched early morning raids against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen after they targeted shipping in the Red Sea, saying it was linked to Israel.
Violence involving Tehran-aligned groups in Yemen, as well as in Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, has surged since the Israel-Hamas war erupted.
Following Friday’s pre-dawn strikes, the Houthi Supreme Political Council threatened to retaliate against US and British interests, saying they were now “legitimate targets.”
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Attack Thwarted on Israeli Settlement in the West Bank
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Palestinians in the city of Ramallah staged a pro-Hamas demonstration after Friday prayers, an AFP correspondent reported.
“We are protesting to condemn the massacres and bloodshed amid the silence of the world,” said Asma Hreash, whose father and brother have been arrested by Israeli forces.
“We protest also in support of the resistance that is avenging the blood of Palestinians.”
Later in the day, the Israeli Army announced that it had repelled an attack in the Israeli settlement of Adora, near Hebron. Three Palestinian gunmen were killed in this thwarted raid, according to the Army.
Since the war in Gaza broke out, violence in the occupied West Bank has also surged, with at least 334 people killed by Israeli troops or settlers, according to the health ministry in Ramallah.
With AFP
