Israel’s military has claimed it has encircled Gaza City and divided the besieged coastal strip into two, as Gaza came under its third total communications outage since the start of the war.
“Today, there is north Gaza and south Gaza,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters on Sunday, calling it a “significant stage” in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Israeli media reported that troops are expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours. Strong explosions were seen in northern Gaza after nightfall.
But the “collapse in connectivity” across Gaza reported by internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmed by the Palestinian telecom company Paltel made it even more complicated to convey details of the new stage of the military offensive.
The problem is that the Palestinians are stuck in Gaza because no one really cares about them. The Palestinians are more convenient as pawns to use in a proxy war against Israel (for example by Iran and Syria) than to actually achieve a permanent, stable arrangement. For Netanyahu, achieving a settlement alienates his base which wants to expel the Palestinians completely, and the conflict maintains anxiety that keeps him elected.