Communication, internet services disrupted again, as Occupation invasion into south Gaza continues

Telecommunications slowly returned to Gaza on Tuesday after being down for roughly 12 hours due to damage to the network caused by the Israeli airstrikes, according to Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel. 

This was not the first time that communication and internet services have been completely cut off in Gaza. On November 16, fuel shortages led to a complete shutdown of services, which were only restored two days later after a quantity of fuel was brought in through the Rafah border crossing specifically for the telecommunications generators.

According to testimonies from residents in Gaza and the northern governorates, the disruption of communication and internet services has exacerbated the overall communication crisis they are experiencing. This is due to the Israeli military's separation of the different governorates within the strip through checkpoints and military vehicles, stranding the residents in the northern strip who are not able to reach the civil defense teams or the Palestine Red Crescent Society to report casualties from Israeli airstrikes and collapsed buildings. The Occupation’s invasion has made communication among the residents themselves impossible.

Qassam targets Occupation forces in multiple fronts

Several neighborhoods in the northern strip witnessed direct clashes between the Qassam Brigades and the Occupation military on Monday. The Qassam Brigades fired dozens of rockets toward Tel Aviv and the Sderot and Netivot settlements.

On Monday, the Qassam Brigades announced that they targeted an Israeli tank as it attempted to infiltrate east of Beit Lahia with a 105mm Yassin anti-tank shell. They also targeted a special forces unit that was holed up in a building with a TBG shell in Beit Hanoun. In addition, the brigades targeted a tank with a Shawaz canister in Beit Hanoun, as well as an Israeli special force hiding in a room. In the Falouja neighborhood of Jabalia city, the brigades confronted an infantry patrol and targeted it with a Shawaz canister, killing several of their soldiers, according to the statement they released on their official Telegram channel.

Meanwhile, as the Occupation military continued its incursion into Gaza neighborhoods, its aircraft bombed several populated residential houses in the northern Gaza neighborhoods of Shojaeyya and Zaytoun, killing at least 30 people. In the southern strip, the Occupation bombed dozens of houses in Rafah and Khan Younis, as well as in central governorates, killing 11 others, most of whom were children.

In another attack that targeted the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, two members of the Palestinian Civil Defense were killed and ten others were injured. Furthermore, a Red Crescent paramedic was killed and another injured in a bombardment that targeted the paramedic’s house in northern Falouja, according to a statement released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which noted that the paramedics refused to leave the northern strip for the south.

Three Occupation military soldiers were killed in clashes with the Qassam Brigades on Sunday and two others were killed on Saturday, bringing the total number of casualties among the Occupation military, whose names were published by the Israeli Defense Forces, to 401 since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, including 81 officers and soldiers who were killed since the start of the ground invasion on October 27.

On Monday, the Occupation military announced that its ground forces targeted a school in Beit Hanoun in the northern strip, alleging the presence of Hamas infrastructure inside. This coincided with the circulation of promotional videos of Israeli soldiers inside abandoned hospitals and schools in Gaza, which they turned into sports halls.

According to Al Jazeera, citing Occupation news outlet Channel 12, 137 Israelis are still being held by Hamas, following the release of 113 detainees. These figures align with the total number of detainees previously announced by Abu Obaida, the spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry, Ashraf al-Qidra, announced yesterday that 349 bodies have been brought to the ministry's hospitals since Sunday, along with 750 injured, bringing the total number of casualties since the start of the Israeli aggression to 15,899 deaths and around 42,000 injured.

Qidra added that 56 healthcare facilities have been completely destroyed by the Occupation, while 20 hospitals and 46 primary care centers have been rendered inoperable. Thirty-five members of the medical staff were arrested by the Israeli occupation forces one day after they bombed one of the gates of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern strip, killing and injuring dozens of displaced citizens who sought refuge in the hospital, which are estimated at around seven thousand.

Food increasingly difficult to come by as Occupation checkpoints encircle central governorates

Residents of the central governorates, located between the cities of Gaza and Khan Younis, as well as the displaced who have sought refuge there, are facing a crisis in obtaining food and water. This comes after three days of isolation imposed by the Israeli military, which established checkpoints and deployed tanks in the area, in addition to cutting off supply lines through which locals used to receive food and water.

Mohamed Moharram, who fled to the central governorates from Gaza City, told Mada Masr that families in the governorate are spending long periods of time without food. “We spend the morning searching for cans of beans and other items to secure a meal for the day. We find them in the end but after significant difficulty. There is no flour or cheese, and if we find vegetables, their prices are doubled.”

This crisis was highlighted by Palestinian Red Crescent logistics head in Gaza, Mahmoud Aboul Atta, who stated on Sunday that the Occupation military has separated the southern strip cities of Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah from each other. This was done by targeting the main roads connecting them, including Salah Eddin road, making it difficult to deliver aid to northern Gaza or the southern cities without coordination with the occupation army.

Occupation renews calls for residents to evacuate

The Israeli military has renewed its calls for residents and the displaced in Khan Younis to evacuate to the shelters in the southernmost part of the strip, specifically in the neighborhoods of Fakhari, Shaboura, Zohoor, and Tal al-Soltan, neighborhoods adjacent to the Egyptian border that are also being bombed.

A spokesperson for the Occupation military stated on Monday that the military advancement in the Khan Younis area does not allow for the movement of civilians through the Salah Eddin axis in the northern and eastern junctions of the city. The Occupation military will facilitate the movement of civilians through the axis road located west of Khan Younis, the spokesperson added.

New casualties and detainees in West Bank

According to the Palestinian News and Information Agency WAFA, two Palestinians were killed and two others arrested by Occupation forces in Qalqilya on Sunday. The Israeli military referred to the incident as a “counterterrorism” mission in the area. On Monday, the Occupation announced that they targeted a “terrorist cell” that repeatedly fired at their forces in Qalqilya, resulting in the killing of two members of the cell, the injury of several others and the arrest of 29 suspects in the West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, this brings the total number of Palestinians killed by the Occupation in the West Bank since October 7 to 256.

The Occupation also arrested around 60 Palestinians, including university students, some of whom were later released, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs. They clarified that the arrests were concentrated in Khalil, Ramallah, Areeha, and Bethlehem, bringing the total number of Palestinians detained by the Occupation in the West Bank since October 7 to 3,480.