By Nur Asena Erturk
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Friday said it lost contact with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) after communications were cut in the Gaza Strip.
"Thousands of civilians are under the heaviest shelling ever happened in Gaza," Francesco Rocca wrote on X, hours after the Israeli army announced that ground forces would expand activities in the Gaza Strip during the night -- a signal that a long-feared ground operation may have begun.
"We lost contacts with @PalestineRCS. The blackout affects emergency medical services, but also we can’t know what is happening," said Rocca.
He expressed deep concerns about civilians, as well as health care workers and facilities.
Communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip were completely cut off late Friday amid heavy Israeli bombing of feeder lines, towers and networks, said the Palestine Telecommunications Company.
Ooredoo Palestine, a mobile network operator in the West Bank, said its cellphone services were completely cut off from the Gaza Strip late Friday.
The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood -- a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.
The Palestine resistance group said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
The Israeli military then launched a relentless bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been running out of food, water, medicine, and fuel, and aid convoys recently allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.
Nearly 8,800 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 7,326 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis.
Seventy percent of the deaths in Gaza are women and children, according to official figures.