Israel’s military has claimed it has encircled Gaza City and divided the besieged coastal strip into two, as Gaza came under its third total communications outage since the start of the war.
“Today, there is north Gaza and south Gaza,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters on Sunday, calling it a “significant stage” in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Israeli media reported that troops are expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours. Strong explosions were seen in northern Gaza after nightfall.
But the “collapse in connectivity” across Gaza reported by internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmed by the Palestinian telecom company Paltel made it even more complicated to convey details of the new stage of the military offensive.
And even worse, Hamas uses them too. They have stockpiles of food and water and medicine that aren’t sharing with the Palestinians. They take aid meant for the Palestinians. They try to infiltrate refugee groups. They even dismantled a drinking water system the EU funded and used the pipes for rockets.
A global coalition needs to put boots on the ground and simultaneously evacuate civilians while engaging Hamas. They’re a pox on everyone.