Gaza experiencing ‘longest communications shutdown’ since Oct. 7: UN

ISTANBUL

The Gaza Strip is experiencing the “longest communications shutdown” since the outbreak of the conflict on Oct. 7, the UN refugee agency said Monday.

“People are cut off from loved ones and the rest of the world, increasing the feeling of isolation,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement.

The shutdown “also impedes humanitarian response and restricts access to lifesaving information,” it added.

Paltel Group, the provider of communications services in the Gaza Strip, announced another blackout in the Palestinian territory, the 10th since the outbreak of the conflict on Oct. 7.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,295 Palestinians and injuring 63,000. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar