Live updates | Israel knocks out Gaza communications as protesters call for end to the war

Israel knocked out communications and created a near-blackout of information through putting goals in the Gaza Strip with stepped-up bombardment and artillery fireplace in a single day and into Saturday.

The Israeli army launched grainy photographs Saturday of tank columns transferring slowly in open spaces of Gaza and stated warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers.

Explosions from steady airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours after dusk Friday as the Israeli army stated it was once increasing flooring operations in the territory, signaling a transfer nearer to an all-out invasion of Gaza supposed to weigh down the ruling Hamas militant team after its bloody rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The Palestinian telecom supplier, Paltel, stated the bombardment led to “complete disruption” of web, mobile and landline products and services as the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million folks had been in large part bring to a halt from touch with the out of doors international. Some satellite tv for pc telephones persevered to serve as.

The Palestinian dying toll handed 7,300. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list together with names and ID numbers on Thursday. In the occupied West Bank, greater than 110 Palestinians had been killed in violence and Israeli raids since the war’s get started 3 weeks in the past.

More than 1,400 folks had been slain in Israel throughout the Hamas incursion, together with a minimum of 310 infantrymen, in accordance to the Israeli govt. At least 229 hostages had been taken into Gaza, and four hostages had been launched previous.

Currently:

Here’s what is going on in the newest Israel-Hamas war:

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS LOSE CONTACT WITH TEAMS, AGENCIES SAY

CAIRO — The U.N. well being company and different assist teams stated Saturday they continue to be not able to keep up a correspondence with their groups in the besieged Gaza Strip throughout intense Israeli air and land bombardment.

Tedros Adhanom, head of the World Health Organization, stated the blackout has made it “impossible for ambulances to reach the injured.”

“We are still out of touch with our staff and health facilities. I’m worried about their safety,” he wrote on X, previously identified as Twitter.

UNWRA, the U.N. company for refugees, introduced that as of Friday, 58 body of workers participants have been killed through Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Guillemette Thomas, Palestinian territories clinical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, stated the assist team had now not in a position to achieve its group for greater than 12 hours.

“The situation is very difficult,” she informed The Associated Press. “We can’t communicate with our team. We don’t know whether they are safe.”

LARGE DEMONSTRATION AT U.S. EMBASSY IN INDONESIA CALLS FOR END TO WAR

JAKARTA, Indonesia — More than 3,000 protesters marched to the closely guarded U.S. Embassy in Indonesia’s capital on Saturday to call for an end to the war and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Waving Indonesian and Palestinian flags, the protesters, many dressed in white Islamic gowns, stuffed a big thoroughfare in downtown Jakarta working out of doors the embassy. About 1,000 police had been deployed round the compound, which is blocked off through concrete highway obstacles.

The protesters, arranged through the Indonesian Ulema Council, identified as MUI, chanted “God is Great” and “Freedom for Palestine” throughout the noisy however non violent protest. Banners and placards proclaimed, “We stand with Gaza,” and slammed the Israeli govt whilst denouncing the staunch U.S. reinforce of Israel.

“We are not willing to allow our brothers and sisters in Palestine to be tyrannized or genocided by Israel,” MUI Secretary General of MUI Amirsyah Tambunan informed the crowd. “We will continue to support and fight for Palestinian independence and sovereignty.”

NYC PROTESTERS DEMAND GAZA CEASE-FIRE, MANY ARRESTED AFTER FILLING GRAND CENTRAL TRAIN STATION

NEW YORK – Hundreds of protesters in black T-shirts stuffed New York City’s iconic Grand Central Terminal throughout the night rush hour on Friday to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Many of the protesters had been detained through police and brought out of the station, their arms zip tied at the back of their backs. The NYPD may now not straight away say what number of had been taken into custody.

“Hundreds of Jews and friends are taking over Grand Central Station in a historic sit-in calling for a ceasefire,” advocacy team Jewish Voice for Peace stated on social media.

Inside the major concourse, protesters dressed in shirts that learn “cease-fire now” and “not in our name” chanted, with some conserving banners in entrance of the checklist of departure instances. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority requested commuters to use Penn Station as another.

The scene echoed closing week’s sit-in the place greater than 300 folks had been arrested for illegally demonstrating on Capitol Hill in Washington.

EXPLOSIONS SHATTER THE NIGHT SKY OVER GAZA AS ISRAEL EXPANDS BOMBING

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The uninteresting orange glow of Israeli flares shone in the night time sky over Gaza, slowly descending thru the haze to remove darkness from goals for warplanes sooner than in the end flickering out, plunging the scene again into darkness.

Multiple explosions from Israeli airstrikes tore into northern Gaza on Friday, fast flashes of vibrant orange silhouetted in opposition to the rooftops of Palestinian residences and refugee camps. The sharp crunching sound of the bombs adopted each and every time, seconds later, one after every other.

Overhead, the buzz of Israeli army drones minimize thru, rising quieter and louder as the crafts turned around the airspace.

For maximum Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip, their international has shriveled to those few sounds and colours.

Israel dramatically ramped up its bombardment Friday after knocking out web and verbal exchange in Gaza, in large part slicing off the tiny besieged enclave’s 2.3 million folks from touch with each and every different and the out of doors international.

U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY CALLS FOR ‘HUMANITARIAN TRUCE’ IN GAZA LEADING TO HALT IN ISRAEL-HAMAS FIGHTING

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly licensed a nonbinding solution on Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza main to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

It was once the first U.N. reaction to Hamas’ marvel Oct. 7 assaults on Israel and Israel’s ongoing army reaction and vow to obliterate Hamas.

The 193-member international frame followed the solution through a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian modification subsidized through the United States to unequivocally condemn the “terrorist attacks” through Hamas and insist the rapid liberate of hostages taken through the militant team.

GAZA’S LARGEST HOSPITAL STRUGGLES TO KEEP ITS NEONATAL UNITS RUNNING AS ISRAEL TIGHTENS SEIGE

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Premature young children wiggle and squirm, some with oxygen tubes below their noses, in rows of transparent plastic incubators inside of the neonatal unit of Gaza’s greatest health facility, which, like the remainder of the besieged Palestinian territory, is working out of gas, meals, water and electrical energy.

Doctors in Gaza say stipulations have reached catastrophic ranges. They say a loss of elementary provides has left them suffering to take care of hygiene and sanitation, and health facility grounds are overcrowded with displaced civilians in search of safe haven from Israeli airstrikes.

“We have noticed an increase in premature birth cases,” stated Dr. Nasser Bulbul, head of the NICU at al-Shifa Hospital.

“We had to perform a premature delivery of the fetus from the mother’s womb while she’s dying,” he stated. “Many of these infants are orphaned, and we don’t know the fate of their relatives or have information about their identities.”

Around 50,000 pregnant girls are stuck up in the struggle, with round 5,500 due to give delivery inside the subsequent 30 days, in accordance to the United Nations Population Fund.

If gas provides run out, neonatal in depth care devices can be impacted and deliberate or emergency caesarean sections can be unattainable, the U.N. company stated.

PRESS GROUP SAYS THE PAST 3 WEEKS HAVE BEEN DEADLIEST PERIOD FOR JOURNALISTS COVERING CONFLICT

NEW YORK — The Committee to Protect Journalists says the previous 3 weeks had been the deadliest on document for newshounds masking struggle since the group began monitoring in 1992.

The group stated in a remark Friday that a minimum of 29 newshounds have died masking the Israel-Hamas war because it ignited Oct. 7, together with 24 Palestinians, 4 Israelis and 1 Lebanese. Additionally, 8 different newshounds had been reported injured and 9 had been reported lacking or detained.

CPJ additionally criticized the slicing of communications products and services in the Gaza Strip, caution that the blackout may be a “news blackout” that has compromised the public’s skill to “know and understand what is happening in this conflict.”

“This can lead to serious consequences with an independent, factual information vacuum that can be filled with deadly propaganda, dis- and misinformation,” it stated.

The group wired that newshounds are civilians that will have to be revered and secure according to global humanitarian legislation, including that “deliberating targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes possible war crimes.”

‘WE’RE NOT DRAWING RED LINES FOR ISRAEL,’ WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL SAYS

WASHINGTON — White House National Security spokesman John Kirby many times refused to touch upon Israel announcing its flooring forces had been increasing process in Gaza and in addition refused to touch upon what a enough long-term purpose may well be for the combating.

“We’re not drawing red lines for Israel,” Kirby stated Friday on a call with newshounds. “We’re going to continue to support them” however “since the very beginning we have, and will continue to have, conversations about the manner that they are doing this.”

Kirby stated the U.S. remains to be comparing the affect of airstrikes in opposition to Iranian-backed militias and “we will not hesitate to take further actions in our own self-defense.”

He additionally stated 10 further vehicles stuffed with humanitarian assist had made it to Gaza, bringing the general to 84, however that the U.S. is conscious that gas there “is only anticipated to last a couple of days.”

The White House in the past stated President Joe Biden was once briefed Friday morning through his nationwide safety group on the newest tendencies in Israel and Gaza.

AID GROUPS SAY BLACKOUT IS IMPEDING STAFF COMMUNICATIONS AND OPERATIONS

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Aid teams say the communications blackout in the Gaza Strip has now not handiest left them not able to touch their body of workers, however has additionally impeded their operations in the territory.

“It doesn’t only mean that Gaza is isolated from the world but also it means people can’t connect to each other. Our emergency line is down so people are literally not able to call an ambulance,” stated Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent. “We are extremely worried because we are completely cut off from our teams.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross additionally stated it is lately not able to achieve its body of workers in Gaza.

“We are deeply worried for their safety and the safety of all civilians where hostilities are taking place,” the organization said in a statement. “Without access to information in a communication blackout, people don’t know where to go for safety.”

ISRAELI ARMY SAYS GROUND FORCES WILL EXPAND THEIR ACTIVITY IN GAZA FRIDAY EVENING

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Friday said its ground forces were “expanding their activity” in the Gaza Strip, as the army moved closer to a full-on ground invasion of the besieged territory.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the army’s spokesman, said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets.

“In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he said. “The IDF is acting with great force … to achieve the objectives of the war.”

Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against the Hamas militant group.

Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since Hamas militants carried out a bloody cross-border incursion on Oct. 7.

POPE FRANCIS LEADS SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR COUNTRIES AND REGIONS AFFECTED BY WAR

VATICAN CITY — Amid signs of escalating tensions in the Middle East, Pope Francis led special prayers Friday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica for a world “in a dark hour” and in “great danger” from what he described as the folly of war.

In his remarks, delivered in the form of a prayer to the Virgin Mary, Francis didn’t mention by name the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which exploded into war after the Hamas attack against Israelis on Oct. 7.

Instead, he said he was praying for “especially those countries and regions at war.”

“Intercede for our world, in such turmoil and great danger,″ the pope prayed, in apparent reference to widespread anxiety that the Israeli-Hamas war could quickly develop into a wider, regional war in the Middle East.

PALESTINIAN TELECOM PROVIDER SAYS INTERNET SERVICE HAS BEEN CUT IN GAZA STRIP

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian telecom provider Paltel says internet service in Gaza Strip has been cut off by Israeli bombardment. Services were cut Friday evening, following a heavy round of Israeli airstrikes that lit up the night sky over the darkened territory.

Rights teams and newshounds additionally say they misplaced touch with colleagues in the enclave. The Associated Press’s makes an attempt to touch folks in Gaza didn’t undergo.