Internet, phone services cut in various areas in northern Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Telephone and internet services were cut in parts of the northern Gaza Strip, the Palestine Cellular Communications Company (Jawwal) announced early on Monday.

"In recent hours, various areas of the northern Gaza Strip were subjected to an interruption of telecommunication and Internet services due to the failure of the main generator in one of our main stations in the Sheikh Radwan area," the company said in a statement on Facebook.

The company said: "We would like to clarify that since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, the fixed and cellular communications network and the Internet have been exposed to interruption in services due to repeated damage to network elements as a result of the continuous bombing."

"Our crews are monitoring the network around the clock to fix any possible malfunctions and restore services to subscribers," it said.

On Sunday, Jawwal announced that telecommunication and Internet services were gradually returning to work in the Gaza Strip after being cut off nearly completely on Friday evening.

Gaza had been under a near-total communications blackout for nearly 36 hours following intensified Israeli air attacks on Friday that Palestinian telecoms providers said knocked out communications lines and towers.

On Saturday, Elon Musk decided to provide internet to internationally recognized relief organizations in Gaza, after Israel cut off service to the enclave.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat