Amid power outage warnings, the enclave will be without phone or internet service for more than 12 hours, potentially concealing rights violations.
The Gaza Strip remains in contact with the outside world after phone and internet services are cut off, as humanitarian and media organizations warn that a communications blackout could provide cover for atrocities in the besieged enclave. The situation continues to be unrecoverable.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continued to communicate with people outside the enclave for a second day on Saturday after Hamas reported the heaviest bombing of the war and a limited ground invasion by Israeli forces overnight. I couldn’t take it.
Palestinian telecommunications operator Jawar said late Friday that Israeli shelling of the Strip had “destroyed all remaining international routes linking Gaza to the outside world.”
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, said information coming out of the enclave was “very minimal.”
“After Gaza was plunged into darkness with no communication, telephone or internet connectivity, Palestinians here outside Gaza and elsewhere feel they too are in the dark about what is happening.” said Ibrahim.
“They cannot check on the safety of their friends and loved ones.” [and] Have your family confirm whether you are alive or dead. ”
Amnesty International said it had lost contact with colleagues in the Gaza Strip and that a lack of communication was making it increasingly difficult to document rights violations.
“This communications blackout is aimed at obtaining critical information and evidence about human rights abuses and war crimes committed against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and hearing directly from those experiencing human rights abuses. This means that it will become even more difficult,” said Senior Director Erika Guevara Rosas. The importance of research, advocacy, policy and campaigning, she said in a statement Friday.
Deborah Brown, senior technology and human rights fellow at Human Rights Watch, said the blackouts risked “conceiving mass atrocities and impunity for human rights violations.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists also warned that “press control” could lead to “serious consequences” including the spread of misinformation.
The collapse of communications services in the Gaza Strip comes as Israel ramps up artillery fire ahead of a full-scale ground assault on the enclave.
On Friday, Al Jazeera’s Safwat Karrut, reporting from Gaza City, said recent Israeli attacks were much more violent compared to previous attacks.
“Today is the worst in terms of the intensity of the fires in Israel, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, where explosions can be heard even from the sea,” Karut said.
Reporting from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Al Jazeera reporter Tarek Abu Azizm said residents were “feeling fear and fear” after being “completely isolated”.
Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Gaza, which Israeli authorities say killed 1,405 people, mostly civilians. ing.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 7,326 Palestinians, including more than 3,000 children, Palestinian officials said.
