In Gaza, phone and internet networks are collapsing, endangering the humanitarian situation

Due to a shortage of fuel, internet and phone services went down throughout the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to the main Palestinian provider. This could result in a long-term communication blackout as Israel hinted that its offensive against Hamas may next target the south, where the majority of the population has sought safety.

Shifa Hospital in the north was probed by Israeli forces for signs of Hamas on a second day of operations. They put on display weaponry discovered in a vehicle within the facility, as well as what they claimed to be a tunnel entrance. However, the IDF has not yet made public any proof of the existence of the main Hamas command center, which Israel claims is hidden underneath the facility. The biggest hospital in Gaza, as well as its workers, refute the accusations.

In a building next to Shifa, the IDF claimed to have discovered the corpse of 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss, one of the captives taken by Hamas, along with assault guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The reason for her demise was not stated.

Even while Israeli bombings continue in southern Gaza, the acute humanitarian situation there worsens due to the failure of communications that essentially isolates the 2.3 million residents of Gaza from one another and the outside world. The food supply in Gaza has collapsed under Israel’s closure, and not enough food is arriving from Egypt, prompting the U.N. World Food Program to warn of “the immediate possibility of starvation” in the region.

The invasion into southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, during which the terrorists murdered over 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and seized over 240 men, women, and children, started the conflict, which is now in its sixth week. Weiss, whose corpse was discovered on Thursday, is the third prisoner whose death has been officially verified; the other four have been liberated, and one has been rescued.

In response to the incident, Israel launched a ground invasion of northern Gaza and a weeks-long air war, pledging to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and drive the group out of power.

According to Palestinian health officials, around 11,470 Palestinians have died, with women and youngsters making up the majority of the dead. An other 2,700 people are missing and thought to be buried beneath debris. Although Israel claims to have killed hundreds of terrorists, the official death toll does not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties.

Israel has lost fifty-six troops in the ground assault.

Tensions abroad have escalated due to the conflict. A soldier was killed and three others were injured when Palestinian militants opened fire at a checkpoint on the key route connecting Jerusalem to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Police said that the three terrorists were slain and that they were planning an attack in Jerusalem. They claimed to have assault weapons, pistols, and hatchets. Hamas said that it was behind the assault.

Israeli forces searched the Shifa facility, the biggest hospital in Gaza, a day after breaking in. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, on Thursday, soldiers searched the hospital’s basement and took custody of its equipment technicians.

Staff members report that they have been fighting to keep 45 dialysis patients and 36 preterm newborns alive without working equipment since the hospital has been without power for about a week.

Mohamed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa, informed Al Jazeera that one dialysis patient passed away on Thursday. He also said that 5,000 displaced persons and 650 injured patients are being treated at the hospital.

Although Shifa officials said that incubators were worthless without gasoline, Israel claimed that its forces had delivered medical teams along with incubators and other equipment. The emergency generator ran out of gasoline on Saturday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which reported 40 patients—three of them were babies—died before the attack.

There had been no combat when Israeli soldiers stormed Shifa on Wednesday, nor had there been any reports of Hamas militants shooting from within during the preceding days of battle in the surrounding streets.

There is pressure on Israel to substantiate its allegation that Hamas established its primary command center under and beneath the hospital, which consists of various buildings spread over several city blocks. It has mostly shown several weapon caches so far.

The military published footage of a hole they claimed to be a tunnel entry in the hospital courtyard on Thursday. A pickup vehicle in the courtyard was said to have had many assault weapons, RPGs, grenades, ammo clips, and utility vests, all of which were arranged on a blanket. The Israeli assertions could not be independently verified by the Associated Press.

Israel has been claiming for years that a significant Hamas headquarters is located in the hospital. It has been releasing satellite maps in recent weeks that identified certain structures as either hosting subterranean facilities or serving as command centers. It unveiled a computer simulation that showed an underground labyrinth of chambers and corridors stocked with ammunition and fuel tanks. The United States said it had information to back up Israeli assertions.

The accusations are a part of Israel’s larger charge that Hamas utilizes Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as human shields, which is what Israeli authorities claim is causing the significant number of civilian deaths during weeks of shelling.

Although combat sometimes occurs in the north, the military claims to have largely established its grip over the region. At some point, the ground operation would “include both the north and south,” according to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday. No matter where Hamas is, we will attack it. He did not provide a duration.

On Wednesday afternoon, Palestinians living east of the southern town of Khan Younis were advised to leave via leaflets dropped by Israeli soldiers. For weeks before to the ground assault, similar pamphlets were dropped over the northern part of Gaza.

Thursday saw further strikes in the southern region. A funeral was conducted in Deir al-Balah for the 28 individuals who were murdered in a nighttime bombing that destroyed many structures.

The majority of Gaza’s population—including hundreds of thousands of people who followed Israel’s orders to flee north in order to avoid its ground offensive—is concentrated in the southern part of the territory. After being forced from their homes, around 1.5 million people have crammed into UN shelters or homes with other families.

Egypt won’t let a mass movement into its territory, so it’s unclear where they would go if the attack proceeds south. Humanitarian supplies might be provided at Mawasi, a small village on the Mediterranean coast that is a few square kilometers (square miles) in size. The Israeli military has urged residents to relocate to this “safe zone.”

On Thursday, the leaders of eighteen U.N. agencies and foreign humanitarian organizations rejected the idea of establishing a safe zone, citing the high risk of gathering people in one location while fighting persist. They demanded an end to hostilities as well as the free flow of fuel and humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s populace.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Israel has closed off Gaza, admitting only a small amount of help from Egypt. Additionally, it prohibits the distribution of gasoline and states that it will be redirected to Hamas, although last week it permitted a limited quantity to be used by UN trucks to distribute assistance.

Less than 7% of the population’s daily caloric requirements are met by the 447 trucks that have transported food into Gaza from Egypt, out of the 1,129 relief trucks that have arrived since October 21, according to the World Food Program. Fuel shortages forced the closure of the majority of bakeries, and the food supply chains broke, leaving bread “scarce or non-existent,” the report claimed.

“Citizens are facing the immediate possibility of starvation with winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and a lack of clean water,” said Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program.

The primary Palestinian telecom company, Palnet, said that the internet and phone network were also taken down by a lack of gasoline and could not be revived until Israel allowed fuel to enter. This might lead to a prolonged communication blockage, after three previous shutdowns that Gaza officials were able to resolve.

Palestinians were traumatized by the prior blackouts, which prevented them from contacting medics or relatives to make sure they were still alive. According to aid workers, hospitals and humanitarian activities are severely impacted by the shutdowns. Through the use of SIM cards or satellite phones that connect to Israeli or Egyptian networks, some Palestinians are able to maintain contact.