Israel says conflict at ‘significant stage’ as troops cut off northern Gaza from south
Global News
Israeli forces severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory ahead of an expected push into the dense confines of Gaza City.
Israeli forces severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory ahead of an expected push into the dense confines of Gaza City. Palestinians held a mass funeral on Monday for dozens of people killed in strikes in the south, where Israel has urged people to seek refuge.
Troops are expected to enter the city soon, Israeli media reported, and militants who have prepared for years are expected to fight street by street using a vast network of tunnels.
Casualties will likely rise on both sides in the month-old conflict, which has already killed more than 9,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Some 1,400 Israelis have died, mostly civilians killed in the brutal incursion by Hamas that started the conflict. Both tolls are unprecedented in decades of fighting.
The Israeli military said late Sunday that it had cut off northern Gaza from the south, calling it a “significant stage” in the conflict. It said a one-way corridor for residents to flee south would remain available for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in Gaza City and other parts of the north.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians, or around 70% of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes since the conflict began. Food, medicine, fuel and water are running low, and U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters are beyond capacity, with many sleeping on the streets outside.
Mobile phone and internet service went down overnight, the third territory-wide outage since the start of the conflict, but was gradually restored on Monday, according to the Palestinian telecom company Paltel and internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org. Aid workers say the outages make it even harder for civilians to seek safety or even call ambulances.
Israel has so far rejected U.S. suggestions for a pause in fighting to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and the release of some of the estimated 240 hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 raid. Israel has also dismissed calls for a broader cease-fire from increasingly alarmed Arab countries – including Jordan and Egypt, which made peace with it decades ago.
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