Gaza City’s communications cut amid widening Israeli ground invasion

Israel pressed on with its ground invasion of Gaza City on Wednesday, leaving residents with the agonizing choice of whether to flee with their families or face the dangers of staying behind, as they reported the sound of continuous fire from all corners of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are estimated to be in the path of Israel’s advance. The military encircled Gaza City on Monday night, sending in two divisions of tanks and troops supported from the air and sea. They are expected to gradually push deeper toward the center of the city as more forces join the operation, an Israeli military official said Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli military needs to seize Gaza City to declare victory over Hamas. The United Nations, meanwhile, has characterized the campaign as one of “wanton destruction.”

According to local authorities, almost 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began military operations in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, following a Hamas incursion into southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. The enclave is largely destroyed: Whole neighborhoods have been razed, and most agricultural lands are badly wrecked. On Tuesday, an independent U.N. commission said Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounted to genocide — an accusation Israeli officials have repeatedly and strenuously rejected.

Reached by phone in her partially destroyed home in the Nasser area, Ghada Dahman, 40, said her family did not how to stay safe amid the invasion. Some relatives had joined them amid the ruins in recent days after their own homes were bombed, she said.

“We are in great confusion, not knowing whether to leave or stay,” Dahman said. “If we leave our home, then one day when return, we may not find it.”

Their access to lifesaving information about the progress of the military operation and safety of roads southward was restricted Wednesday, as many in Gaza City and farther north suffered heavy network disruptions. Washington Post reporters struggled to reach many contacts in Gaza City. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said the new disruptions to internet and terrestrial services were due to “continued aggression and targeting of major network routes.”

NetBlocks, which monitors global internet access, attributed the blackout to “the targeting of one of the main fiber optic routes, [which] comes amid a new Israeli ground operation in the region.” The Israeli military did not respond to questions about damage to the area’s telecommunications network.

In a joint statement Wednesday, a coalition of key global aid groups called on world leaders to do more to intervene, echoing those of an increasing number of governments and human rights organizations. Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report, saying it was based on “falsehoods” and accusing the writers of being “Hamas proxies.”

“Rhetoric and half measures are not enough,” the statement from the 22 humanitarian leaders read. “This moment demands decisive action.” World leaders have failed to act over the past two years, it said, adding: “Facts are ignored. Testimony is cast aside. And more people are killed as a direct consequence.”

Netanyahu has described the Gaza City campaign as a necessary step in bringing home Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 2023. Many Israelis, including the relatives of hostages and some defense officials, fear the new incursions and bombardments will instead endanger the lives of hostages there.

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that it would open a second route for Gaza City residents to evacuate to the south of the enclave, through the Salah al-Din Road that runs through central Gaza, which it will allow to be open for 48 hours.

But for most, the hours of traffic on the al-Rashid coastal road — the only other road that has been available — may be the least of their concerns.

While tens of thousands of people are estimated to be fleeing every day, many have said they feel stuck: The cost of transport is exorbitant, and few believe they will find anywhere to stay, or even be able to purchase a tent, when they arrive in central or southern parts of Gaza — where Israeli military attacks also continue.

Shaimaa Abu Haseera was despondent as she spelled out the few options she had to find relative safety for her and her three children as Israeli troops moved closer. “I can’t leave due to the high cost of transportation and the expensive rent in the south. I am currently unemployed,” she said. Her job as a midwife had been cut at the clinic where she worked.

“My children are in a bad psychological state because of the frequent bombing that is close to us,” she told The Post on Tuesday night, before the communications blackout hit Wednesday.

Gaza City residents who have fled in recent days told The Post they have paid between 1,600 and 4,000 ($479 to $1,196) shekels for transportation, depending on how much luggage they have and the size of their family.

Poverty rates in Gaza — where the world’s leading body on food security has confirmed that famine is present — are so high that most people do not have the means to flee.

In central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, the tiny city has been overwhelmed by people flooding in to avoid going to Mawasi, the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza where aid agencies say conditions are fatally dire.

“There are so many people in the streets,” said Tasneem al-Bhaisi, who fled from Gaza City two weeks ago. “People don’t know where to go. It has become really crowded with people in a crazy way.”

Each displacement is increasingly difficult, she said. The destroyed roads are sandy and hard to travel on, and the displaced face constant dangers and indignities: There are no bathrooms, health care points or places to eat along the way, she said.

“The conditions now in Deir al-Balah are worse than you can imagine,” said Shireen Abu Qammar, a local journalist who was displaced from Gaza City after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order there. “We have been displaced more than once, and the conditions have never been this difficult: Overcrowding without shelter. People are sleeping on the streets. There is not enough space.”

“I came to a camp 20 days ago and there was little space,” Abu Qammar said. “After a day, the camp was closed because it could not accommodate a larger number.”

The U.N. Human Rights Office on Tuesday said the Israeli military’s assault on Gaza City was “destroying the last viable element of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.” The office also described the Israeli military strategy in the city as “tantamount to ethnic cleansing” and said it “appears to be focused on causing a permanent demographic shift.”

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• Siham Shamalakh and Hazem Balousha contributed.