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A blackout has hit the Gaza Strip late at night in the Middle East, leaving health officials unable to contact hospitals and media outlets scrambling to get back in touch with reporters as Israeli ground operations expand.
World Health Organization boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus a little over an hour ago said the UN agency lost touch with its staff in Gaza, leaving him gravely concerned for their safety and that of their patients in unreachable hospitals.
“We urge immediate protection of all civilians and full humanitarian access,” he said on social media.
He later posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, one word: ‘Why?’
UNICEF chief Catherine Russell also said her agency could no longer reach its staff on the ground.
“I’m extremely concerned about their safety and another night of unspeakable horror for [one million] children in Gaza,” she said on social media.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has also issued a statement expressing their alarm about reports of a widespread communications blackout in the Gaza Strip.
“As news bureaus lose contact with their crews and reporters in Gaza, who are independently bearing witness to provide information about developments and the human toll of this war, the world is losing a window into the reality of all sides engaged in this conflict,” the statement said.
NetBlocks, which is a global internet monitor that reports live on internet blackouts around the world, confirmed it had detected a “collapse” in activity in the Gaza Strip amid intense airstrikes hitting the Palestinian enclave.
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