Israel intensifies its air and ground offensive in Gaza today, October 28, 2023

Israel has intensified last night ground and air attacks in the Gaza Strip, which has been there “blackout state”. The cutoff of mobile and internet telecommunications in Gaza is complicating the UN’s humanitarian work, which has lost contact with some of its agencies on the ground.

Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel last night confirmed the “complete shutdown” of communications, telephone and internet services in the Gaza Strip, attributing it to the intense bombardment of the enclave. “The reduction is due to the heavy bombardment in recent hours that damaged the international lines connecting Gaza and caused them to be taken out of service,” the company said in a statement.

Paltel’s confirmation came shortly after numerous users on the networks began warning about the impossibility of establishing communications within the Strip.

Likewise, the reduction took place in conjunction with statements by Israel Defense Forces Daniel Hagari announcing that they were expanding ground operations within the enclave in parallel with the intensification of bombing.

Shortly afterwards, the Ezzeldin al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, reported an Israeli ground incursion into Beit Hanun and the surrounding area of ​​Bureij, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has been carrying out small ground incursions in small parts of the Gaza Strip for two consecutive days in anticipation of the large-scale military ground offensive that they have been announcing for almost three weeks.

Last morning, Israeli forces carried out a small-scale ground incursion into the center of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, attacking “dozens” of the group’s targets such as anti-tank launchers and an operations center, supported by aviation and drones. .

The day before, the Israeli army carried out another ground incursion into the northern part of the enclave, destroying “the Hamas military infrastructure and the group’s tunnels.”

The ground offensive is expected to take place in the north of the Strip, as Israel has repeatedly urged the civilian population of the northern half of the enclave, more than a million people, to move south for safety, although Israeli bombings cover the entire territory, including the south.

Loss of communication

The Palestinian Red Crescent has also warned of the “complete” loss of contact with the operations room in the Gaza Strip and all its teams there.

Humanitarian operations “cannot continue without communication,” the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine, Lynn Hastings, warned from Jerusalem.

Similarly, the Red Crescent has expressed deep concern for the safety of health teams working in the Gaza Strip due to the “continuous and intense Israeli airstrikes 24 hours a day,” demonstrating that Israel “will continue to commit war crimes while isolating Gaza from the outside world.

The UN passes a resolution calling for a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’

The United Nations General Assembly yesterday approved a non-binding resolution presented by Arab countries calling for an “immediate, lasting and lasting humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution received 120 votes in favor, 45 abstentions and 14 votes against, including Israel, the United States, Guatemala, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, the Czech Republic, Micronesia, Fiji and Nauru.

Although the outcome of the vote is not binding, it is generally considered to have important political weight because it shows the position of the international community as a whole.