Turkish Red Crescent loses contact with team in Gaza as communications cut off

ANKARA

The Turkish Red Crescent lost touch Saturday with staff in the Gaza Strip as telecommunications were cut off in the besieged enclave.

“Tonight, @PalestineRCS (Palestine Red Crescent Society) lost communication with its humanitarian operations center, and we lost contact with our local staff in Gaza,” the humanitarian organization wrote on X.

It underlined that the situation continued to deteriorate despite a resolution approved Friday by the UN General Assembly that called for an immediate humanitarian truce.

Expressing extreme concern about its staff's safety and ability to meet urgent needs, the organization urged a humanitarian cease-fire.

"Civilians, humanitarian workers, healthcare professionals, and facilities must be protected!," it said.

According to sources in the Palestinian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, there was a sudden halt in services in the Gaza Strip, for as yet unknown reasons.

Meanwhile, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said Friday that it had "completely" lost contact with the operations room in the Gaza Strip and with all its crew members working there.

It expressed deep concern regarding "providing ambulances with services in the Gaza Strip, especially since the outage affects the central communications services and impedes the arrival of ambulances to the injured."

With the support of 120 countries, the UN General Assembly approved the resolution that calls for an immediate "durable and sustained humanitarian truce" in Gaza.

The draft resolution, which was presented by nearly 50 countries, including Türkiye, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was approved by a vote of 120-14, with 45 nations abstaining.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said his country rejected the resolution "outright."