AMN
Israeli forces cut off northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory ahead of an expected push into the dense confines of Gaza City. Troops are expected to enter the city soon, Israeli media reported. The Israeli military said late Sunday that it had cut off northern Gaza from the south, calling it a “significant stage” in the war. It said, a one-way corridor for residents to flee south would remain available for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in Gaza City and other parts of the north.
The month-old war has already killed more than 9,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Some 1,400 Israelis have died, mostly civilians killed in the brutal incursion by Hamas that started the conflict. Some 1.5 million Palestinians, or around 70 percent of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes since the war began. Food, medicine, fuel, and water are running low, and U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters are beyond capacity, as per media reports.
Mobile phone and internet service went down overnight, the third territory-wide outage since the start of the war, but was gradually restored on Monday. Aid workers said, the outages make it even harder for civilians to seek safety or even call ambulances.
Israel has so far rejected U.S. suggestions for a pause in fighting to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and the release of some of the estimated 240 hostages seized by Hamas in its 7th of October raid. Israel has also dismissed calls for a broader cease-fire from increasingly alarmed Arab countries – including Jordan and Egypt, which made peace with it decades ago.