Gaza Strip: Israel cut internet and phone lines in the Gaza Strip Sunday night, for the third time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, telecoms firm Paltel said.
"We regret to announce the complete shutdown of communications and internet services in Gaza after the Israeli side disconnected the servers," Paltel said in a statement.
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Israel army announces 'significant' strikes
The Israeli army said its land assault on the Gaza Strip had on Sunday split the Palestinian territory in two, with "significant" strikes continuing in its war against Hamas.
Israeli forces "have encircled Gaza City... Now there exists a south Gaza and a north Gaza," said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Warplanes hit refugee camps
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes hit two refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing scores of people, health officials said. The strikes came as the US keeps urging Israel to take a humanitarian pause from its relentless bombardment of Gaza and rising civilian deaths.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Ramallah in the West Bank for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Blinken on Saturday met with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan, after holding talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insists there could be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released. President Joe Biden suggested that progress was being made on the humanitarian pause.
Evacuations of injured, foreigners suspended
Hamas government suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt for a second day in a row on Sunday after Israel refused to allow some injured Palestinians to be evacuated, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said.
"The terminal is closed because Israel prohibits the wounded from crossing into Egypt for treatment," a source within Gaza's Hamas government told AFP under the condition of anonymity.
"No foreigners will be able to leave as long as the injured are stranded" in Gaza, the source added.
An official on the Egyptian side of the Rafah terminal confirmed to AFP that no evacuations took place on Sunday.
The Gaza health ministry says Israel's retaliatory air, land and sea attacks on the enclave have killed nearly 9,800 Palestinians, also mostly civilians.
