ADDS REMARKS
By Beyza Binnur Donmez
GENEVA (AA) - The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, on Friday strongly urged an end to the intensifying conflict between in Israel and Palestine, and particularly decried the suffering of the children in Gaza.
"Children are being killed. Children are suffering," Executive Director Catherine Russell wrote on X.
She urged: "It has to STOP. NOW."
In a separate post, she said the agency lost contact with staff in Gaza.
"I'm extremely concerned about their safety and another night of unspeakable horror for one million children in Gaza," said the UNICEF chief.
Russell urged that all humanitarians and the children and families they serve "must be protected."
The post came 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.
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 mobile phone services were completely cut off from the Gaza Strip.
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.
Hamas 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.
About 70% of the deaths in Gaza are women and children, according to official figures.