LIVE | Day 31: Israel cuts off north Gaza; Palestinian death toll crosses 10,000
Israeli forces severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory and pounded it with intense airstrikes overnight into Monday, as the Palestinian death toll from a month of fighting passed 10,000.
An even bloodier phase is expected as Israeli troops push into the dense confines of Gaza City.
Palestinians held a mass funeral for dozens killed a day earlier in strikes in the south, where Israel has told civilians to seek refuge though it has continued to strike targets all across the coastal enclave.
Troops are expected to enter Gaza City soon, Israeli media reported, and Palestinian militants who have had years to prepare are likely to fight street by street, launching ambushes from a vast network of tunnels.
Casualties will likely rise on both sides in the war, which has already killed at least 10,022 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Some 1,400 Israelis have died, mostly civilians killed in the October 7 incursion by Hamas that started the conflict. Both tolls are unprecedented in the decades-old conflict.The situation remains dire in the north. Some 800,000 people have heeded Israeli military orders to flee to southern Gaza, even though Israel had continued airstrikes in the area. Strikes in central and southern Gaza — the purported safe zone — killed at least 53 people on Sunday. A UN official says the average Palestinian in Gaza is living on two pieces of bread a day.
Israel has so far rejected US suggestions for a pause in fighting to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and the release of some of the estimated 240 captives seized by Hamas in its October 7 raid. Israel has also dismissed calls for a broader ceasefire from increasingly alarmed Arab countries — including Jordan and Egypt, which made peace with it decades ago.
The Israeli military late on Sunday called the severing of northern Gaza from the south a “significant stage” in the war. It said a one-way corridor for residents to flee south would remain available.
The military says 30 troops have been killed since the ground offensive began over a week ago. Palestinian militants have continued firing rockets into Israel, disrupting daily life even as most are intercepted or fall in open areas. Tens of thousands of Israelis have evacuated from communities near the volatile borders with Gaza and Lebanon.
The military said Monday that aircraft struck 450 targets overnight and took over a Hamas compound. It also said it had killed a senior Hamas militant, identified as Jamal Mussa, who had allegedly carried out a shooting attack against Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 1993.Follow this space for more details:
Live Updates
- 6 Nov 2023 8:49 AM IST
Gaza has lost telecom contact again; Israel says it has divided city into two
Gaza lost communications on Sunday in its third total outage of the Israel-Hamas war, while Israel's military said it encircled Gaza City and divided the besieged coastal strip into two.
“Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters, calling it a “significant stage” in Israel's war against the Hamas militant group ruling the enclave.
Israeli media reported troops were expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours. Strong explosions were seen in northern Gaza after nightfall. The “collapse in connectivity” across Gaza, reported by internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmed by Palestinian telecom company Paltel, made it even more complicated to convey details of the new stage of the military offensive. “We have lost communication with the vast majority of the UNRWA team members," U.N. Palestinian refugee agency spokesperson Juliette Touma told The Associated Press.
The first Gaza outage lasted 36 hours and the second one for a few hours.
