It seems the US is fine this time with the communications blackout.
Gaza experiences near-total internet blackout for more than 96 hours, monitoring site reports
A near-total internet blackout in the Gaza Strip has now passed 96 hours, according to the internet monitoring site Netblocks. It is the longest sustained telecoms internet disruption on record in Gaza since the onset of the conflict, Netblocks reports, with most residents unable to contact the outside world since January 12.
The Hamas-run government office in Gaza said the communications disruption makes it harder for the emergency services still functioning to reach people wounded in airstrikes. At least 80% of the communications sector has been destroyed already and technical crews who carry out reparation work are constantly targeted “despite prior coordination through international institutions,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Monday.
On Friday, mobile network Ooredoo Palestine said its main telecommunication and internet lines had sustained damage in Israeli attacks, leading to the complete shutdown of services in the southern and central areas of Gaza. Another large Palestinian telecommunications company, Paltel, also announced Friday that all telecom services in Gaza Strip were cut off due to the “ongoing aggression.”
Israel did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment on the communications blackout.
Earlier times when communications were cut off, the US was still putting pressure on Israel to restore them
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-gaza-war-news/card/u-s-convinced-israel-to-restore-communications-TUJFudrCC2iUVCNJIsgx
As well as getting fuel in to keep communication nodes working
https://www.voanews.com/a/under-us-pressure-israel-agrees-to-allow-limited-fuel-into-gaza-strip/7360075.html
Is the US now further abandoning Gaza?
A ploy to stop further self incriminating videos from IDF soldiers to come out?
Distracted with their war on the Houthis?
US launches additional strikes against Houthis in Yemen
The US military launched new strikes against Houthi targets inside Yemen on Tuesday, targeting anti-ship ballistic missiles controlled by the Iran-backed rebel group, a defense official told CNN on Tuesday. US forces struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that were preparing to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the official said, and presented an imminent threat to merchant and US Navy vessels in the area.
There are still some eyes that get information out
Israel levelling homes in Khan Younis
Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says the Israeli military has bombed several residential homes in Khan Younis, where it is expanding its ground operation. He said that the attacks have killed several Palestinians. He added that medics and civil defence crews are having a difficult time reaching injured people in the city amid continuing Israeli bombardment.
“[Another] bloody night is awaiting Palestinians, as Israel is scaling up its military attacks on the south, especially in Khan Younis.” Abu Azzoum also reported Israeli bombardment in central Gaza.
‘She needed to express her pain’: MSF recounts difficulties facing women giving birth in Gaza
The aid organisation’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, Pascale Coissard Rogeret, has regularly met women receiving postpartum care at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah. Coissard Rogeret recounts the story of Maha, who was pregnant when she was displaced from northern Gaza.
“[Maha] went to a hospital when she felt labour was starting, but she couldn’t be treated. All the delivery rooms were full,” she said. “With no other option, she had to go back to her tent. Her son died. She gave birth to him in the latrines closest to her tent.” “[Maha] needed to express her deep pain to all of us; she needed to cry out to us about the injustice she experienced,” Coissard Rogeret added. “Without this war, she would not have lost her son.”
PRCS: Israeli shelling damages al-Amal Hospital
The Palestine Red Crescent says via X that Israeli army attacks near the hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, have damaged the building and caused “a state of panic” among medical staff, patients and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.
🚨 Israeli shelling near the PRCS Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, caused severe damage to the building, leading to a state of panic and fear among patients, medical teams, and displaced individuals.#NotATarget ❌#IHL
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 16, 2024
Israel targets UN refugee agency warehouse
Israeli forces have targeted and damaged a supplies warehouse belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) near Salah al-Din Street in the city of Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip.
The building, which is a critical part of UNRWA’s efforts to provide essential supplies in Gaza, suffered significant damage due to artillery shelling, intense gunfire, and the impacts of surrounding air attacks. Alongside the pockmarked walls, at least one UN vehicle also appears to be destroyed.
Civil defence recovers 13 bodies in Maghazi camp
Gaza’s civil defence and ambulance crews have recovered the bodies of 13 Palestinians from under the rubble in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The victims were killed over the past several days by the Israeli bombardment of the camp.
Palestinian death toll rises to 24,285: Gaza Health Ministry
A ministry statement says children, women and the elderly make up more than 75 percent of those killed in Israel’s bombardment of the besieged coastal enclave. It said at least 10,600 children, 7,200 women and 1,049 elderly people had been killed in the war. It added that about 61,154 people have been wounded. The ministry has said thousands of people remain trapped under rubble.
