JERUSALEM

Communications and internet services were completely cut off Wednesday in wide areas of the Gaza Strip amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes in various parts of the enclave.

This marks the seventh outage in the Palestinian territory since the outbreak of the clashes on Oct. 7, Jawwal and Paltel telecom providers said in a statement.

In the six previous outages, fixed-line, cellular, and internet communications were cut off for several hours.

The longest outage lasted four days without any resumption, starting on Dec. 14.

The telecommunications firm Ooredoo also confirmed the outage in the communications services in the southern and central parts of the Gaza Strip, with intermittent service remaining in the north.

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been conducting a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, starting in the northern region before expanding to the central and southern areas, amid fierce resistance from Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Israeli officials have acknowledged that their army is paying a “heavy price” in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara