As internet and mobile communications facilities in the Palestinian territories were cut off, Israel escalated its bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip.
After dusk on Friday, a prolonged sequence of massive explosions lit up the sky over Gaza City.
Al Jazeera reported that artillery and air strikes were hitting northern Gaza.
Newsrooms have been inaccessible to reporters, and there is concern that Israel may take advantage of the blackout to perpetrate more war crimes against a populace that will be unable to communicate with the outside world or seek aid from other countries.
Under the Shifa Hospital, a crucial lifeline for Palestinians in northern Gaza and a haven for over 5,000 internally displaced people, Israel believes there are tunnels of this type.
Hamas denies
According to Anadolu Agency, the Palestinian organization Hamas refuted Israeli accusations on Friday that it is exploiting a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip for military objectives.
Claims made by Israel over Al-Shifa Hospital are untrue, stated Hamas Political Bureau member Izzat Al-Rishq.
He cautioned in a statement as well that these accusations open the door to attacking a hospital that treats thousands of injured patients and provides housing for over 40,000 displaced individuals.
"The United Nations and Arab and Islamic countries to intervene immediately to stop the bombing and destruction of the medical system in Gaza," Rishq added in his declaration.
It presents a video on its social media accounts that purports to demonstrate how Hamas has constructed a subterranean city beneath the hospital, but it offers no supporting evidence.
However, this has led observers to speculate that Israel is preparing to attack Al-Shifa Hospital, which earlier this week urged its management to leave the building.
Gaza isolated
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, all of its teams working on the ground and its operations headquarters in Gaza have entirely cut off communication.
Israel boosted airstrikes "in a very significant way," according to Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari, while its ground forces were "expanding their activity" in Gaza.
On Friday night, as Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip intensified; he ordered Gaza City inhabitants to relocate south.
Al Jazeera reported from Gaza City that they could hear intense air strikes and intense artillery shells at the same time. This was something unusual and meant that the strength of the fire was much more than in the previous days.
Mobile phone and internet services have been discontinued, according to a late-Friday social media statement by the Palestinian telecommunications provider Jawwal.
"We've become completely isolated in the territory; we don't have any internet or phone signals," Al Jazeera correspondent reported on Friday from Khan Younis in Gaza.
He claimed that the locals were "terrified and afraid".
Notably, Israeli military have conducted a few small-scale incursions in Gaza in recent days.
Israel has established a "complete siege" on Gaza, denying its 2.3 million inhabitants —who have limited alternatives for escape — access to fuel, food, water, and electricity.
The continuous Israeli blockade of Gaza which has also resulted in sewage spilling into the streets has prompted the UN to issue a dire warning that "many more will die".
The UN agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, stated, "People in Gaza are dying; they are not only dying from bombs and strikes: soon many more will die from the consequences of (the) siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."
"Basic services are collapsing, food, water, and medicine are running short, and sewage is starting to overflow the streets of Gaza."
Truce talk
Meanwhile, international media reported that talks between Israel and Hamas over a truce and prisoner swap agreement are "progressing and at an advanced stage" with Qatar serving as the mediator.
At least 7,326 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, as Israel promises to continue raids into Palestinian territories. More than 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel.
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