Due to the increasing Israeli bombing, humanitarian organisations, the foreign media, and their colleagues have lost communication.
After Israel “expanded” its military action against Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave on Friday night, internet and cell phone services stopped functioning in the Gaza Strip.
Due to the intensifying Israeli bombings, Paltel, the major telecommunications company in Gaza, has announced “a complete severance of all communications and Internet services.”
According to the business, “all remaining international routes linking Gaza to the outside world were destroyed due to the intense bombing in the last hour.”
“The largest single disruption to internet connectivity in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict and will be perceived by many as a total or near-total internet blackout,” according to Netblocks, a business that measures internet connectivity globally, which confirmed the information blackout.
Numerous foreign media outlets, such as RT, have experienced a partial loss of communication with their ground teams and stringers. According to a letter given to Reuters and AFP, the IDF has informed news organisations that Israel “cannot guarantee your employees’ safety, and strongly urge you to take all necessary measures for their safety.”
As of Friday night, there was no communication with reporters and photographers working in the Palestinian enclave, according to Maya Manna, the head of RT Arabic. The lone communication, which described a “very violent bombing,” came from an RT stringer in the vicinity.
READ ALSO: Arab leaders condemn Israel, with one referring to the Gaza siege as a “war crime”
“I’m at a loss for what to do with my family and kids. Local reporter Masoud told RT that “everyone in the Gaza Strip is screaming, everybody is scared, and everyone is afraid.”
An employee of NBC News, who was also able to message other staff members, claims that “all internet, electricity and everything” has been switched off. ““The predicament we find ourselves in is hazardous and extremely challenging. The unidentified staff member stated, “Artillery and aircraft are heavily shelling us.
UNICEF Chief Catherine Russell expressed her “extreme concern about their safety and another night of unspeakable horror for 1 million children in Gaza” after the organisation lost communication with its colleagues in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an international healthcare charity, stated that they had no communication with some of its Palestinian colleagues.
MSF expressed grave concern over the circumstances surrounding one of Gaza’s largest medical facilities, saying, “We are particularly worried for the patients, medical staff, and thousands of families taking shelter at Al Shifa hospital and other health facilities.”
With reference to Al Shifa in particular, Israel had previously accused Hamas of converting hospitals into “headquarters for their terror.” It had even released a “illustrative video” that purportedly showed the “different locations in and under the hospital which are being used to plan and implement terrorist activities.”
Osama Hamdan, a senior official for Hamas, told Al Jazeera that the organisation was aiming to “create an image of victory” and “cover up the crimes of the occupation without any oversight or accountability” by cutting off communications from the Gaza Strip.
