International

Israel intensifies southern offensive as communication blackout hits Gaza

Published

5 months ago

December 5, 2023

Israel intensifies southern offensive as communication blackout hits Gaza

Once again, communication has been cut down, resulting in a “near total blackout” in Gaza while Israel continues to attack the city in the south.

Remember that Israel’s shelling of the Gaza Strip resulted in a widespread blackout in late October that rendered the majority of Gaza residents unreachable by phone. This prompted the telecommunication services to be cut off in the region.

But days after widespread censure, they were fixed.

“We regret to announce the complete cessation of the communications and internet services within the Gaza Strip as the main paths that were previously reconnected were disconnected again,” the Palestinian telecoms company Paltel said in a statement.

The cutoff means casualty figures from Israeli attacks and details of ground fighting cannot be immediately known. Communications networks in Gaza have been repeatedly severed since the war began because of Israeli bombardment.

The Palestinian communications ministry has previously appealed to neighbouring Egypt to operate communication stations near the Gaza border and activate roaming services on Egyptian networks. This has not happened.

Lamentation over situation in southern Gaza

Abdul Wahab Hamed, who fled central Gaza and headed south to shelter from Israeli bombardment, said the situation is alarming.

“The humanitarian situation here in the south is dire,” Hamed told Al Jazeera in Khan Younis.

“It’s marked with relentless bombardment causing a significant loss of life and damage. What unfolds here in Gaza is genocide. It’s an ethnic cleansing.”

READ ALSO:

Israel’s ongoing assault will allow the world to witness “the consequences of war and the unrestrained power given [to] Israel”, Hamed said.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded with Israel to “avoid further action that would exacerbate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to spare civilians from more suffering”, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. “The secretary-general reiterates the need for unimpeded and sustained humanitarian aid flow to meet the needs of the people throughout the [Gaza] Strip. For people ordered to evacuate, there is nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on,” he said.

In the same vein, the UN chief for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, said nowhere is safe in the besieged coastal enclave and people have been forced to “make one impossible choice after another.

“Such blatant disregard for basic humanity must stop,” he said.

Casualties surge

Casualty figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza and the Government Media Office indicate that at least 15,523 Palestinians have been killed and no fewer than 254 others killed in the West Bank.

Seventy percent of the Palestinians killed in the war are women and children, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said, adding 41,316 people have been wounded since the start of the war with Israel.

“During the past hours, only 316 dead and 664 wounded were removed from debris and taken to hospitals, but many others are still under the rubble,” al-Qudra said.

However, the number of casualties in Israel stands at about 1,200 killed and 5,600 injured.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza at the weekend as the Israeli army ordered more areas in and around the enclave’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, reports indicate.

Israel intensifies southern offensive as communication blackout hits Gaza

Related Topics:blackout Gaza Israel offensive

Up Next

Court orders US to pay $50bn for Soleimani assassination

Don't Miss

UK unveils stricter Visa measures to curtail net migration

International

Russia urges Israel to comply with international humanitarian law in Rafah

Published

15 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Trends Admin

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russia urges Israel to comply with international humanitarian law in Rafah

Russia has urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law as its military operation in the Gazan city of Rafah has become an additional destabilising factor in the situation in the Middle East.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova disclosed this on Wednesday while answering reporters’ questions.

On Monday, Israel started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

READ ALSO:

Hamas said it had agreed to the provisions of the ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar mediators, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the truce deal unacceptable.

Over a million people are believed to be sheltering in the city.

“An additional destabilising factor, including for the entire region, was the start of Israel’s ground military operation in Rafah in southern Gaza. About 1.5 million Palestinian civilians are concentrated there.

“In this regard, we demand strict compliance with the provisions of international humanitarian law,” Mr Zakharova told reporters.

Russia urges Israel to comply with international humanitarian law in Rafah

International

African Union condemns Israeli incursion into Rafah, calls for international intervention

Published

15 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Trends Admin

African Union condemns Israeli incursion into Rafah, calls for international intervention

The African Union (AU) has denounced the Israeli military’s recent actions in southern Gaza’s Rafah and urged the international community to intervene to halt the escalation of the conflict.

In a statement, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemned the extension of the war to the Rafah crossing, a crucial corridor for humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Faki expressed extreme concern about the ongoing conflict in Gaza, emphasizing the significant loss of life and destruction of infrastructure. He called on the entire international community to coordinate efforts to stop the deadly escalation.

READ ALSO:

The Israeli incursion into Rafah occurred as negotiators and mediators convened in Cairo to seek a ceasefire in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Israel announced the reopening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing for humanitarian aid to Gaza, four days after its closure in response to a rocket attack that killed four soldiers. Additionally, the Erez border crossing between Israel and northern Gaza was opened for aid deliveries for the first time since the conflict began.

Both the United Nations and the United States, Israel’s staunch ally, condemned the closure of the crossings, which are vital for civilians facing severe humanitarian crises, including famine.

African Union condemns Israeli incursion into Rafah, calls for international intervention

International

Israel seizes key Gaza border, launches assault on Rafah

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2024

Trends Admin

Israeli tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on May 7, 2024 [Israeli army via AFP]

Israel seizes key Gaza border, launches assault on Rafah

Israeli forces have seized control of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, cutting off a vital route for humanitarian aid and potential sanctuary for civilians from a building offensive.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had seized “operational control” of the Gaza side of the border post, which links the besieged enclave with Egypt. The closure of the crucial passage and positioning of tanks in the centre of Rafah is seen as a demonstration of Israel’s determination to press on with an assault on the southern city despite ongoing truce talks.

The 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, closing a route vital for the aid entering Gaza and any civilians able to flee the fighting to Egypt.

The military claimed that the crossing was “being used for terrorist purposes”, alleging that Hamas’s mortar attack on Sunday on the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, which remains closed, was launched from the vicinity. However, it has not so far provided evidence.

The operation came amid an overnight assault on eastern parts of the city. Warplanes pounded residential homes, killing at least 12 people.

Israel’s military said in a statement it had struck numerous Hamas targets in eastern Rafah, killing about 20 fighters.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority acknowledged to The Associated Press news agency that Israeli forces had seized the crossing and closed it for the time being.

READ ALSO:

“It’s been a very difficult night,” reported Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud from Rafah. “It’s been very violent, very bloody and full of destruction.”

The assault comes despite Hamas having said on Monday that it had agreed with the terms of a truce deal hammered out by mediators.

However, pressed by hardline nationalist coalition partners who have demanded a full offensive on Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears set to press on regardless.

Trapped

Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah that the Israeli military carried out an incursion on the eastern side of Rafah, during which there was a heavy exchange of fire with Hamas fighters amid an intense bombing campaign, with the main objective of seizing control of the crossing.

The Israeli control of the border post “is devastating because … Palestinians will no longer be able to leave the territory”, he said.

Despite urgent warnings from its closest allies that an offensive on the city risks huge numbers of civilian casualties, Israel insists that its plans will allow it to clear Rafah and press on to attack the Hamas command and fighters there.

“The Rafah offensive has started again, in spite of all the requests of the international community, the US, the European Union member states, everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told journalists on Tuesday. “I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties. Whatever they say,” he said, adding, “there are no safe zones in Gaza.”

READ ALSO:

Israeli forces whipped up panic on Monday as they ordered 1.4 million or so Palestinians in Rafah – most of whom are displaced following previous instructions from the Israeli military – to evacuate.

The Israeli army reiterated on Tuesday that it has “encouraged” displaced people and international humanitarian organisations operating in eastern Rafah to “temporarily evacuate”.

However, people sheltering in Rafah, amid poor conditions with little shelter, food, or medicine, have few places to go.

The closure of the border crossing only threatens to worsen those shortages and trap more people close to the fighting.

Sources from three humanitarian relief agencies told the Reuters news agency that aid shipments had been halted due to the closure of the crossing.

The latest Israeli operation sees them being pushed towards al-Mawasi on the coast, where the military says it has set up field hospitals, tents, and medical supplies.

“The Israeli military is … strategically cutting off the Gaza Strip and sealing it off from the region,” suggested Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud.

“With the Israeli military presence there right now, we can safely say that we’re looking at a very difficult situation in terms of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said.

“At the same time, when we look at the location of the Rafah crossing, at almost the centre of the city, that indicates that we’re very close to a full invasion of Rafah.”