DayofPal– Israel’s military strikes against Iran and Iran’s attacking back has diverted global headlines to a new war between the two sides. With Israel opening new front, an old one in Gaza is still raging.
In recent days, the Israeli military has intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 140 Palestinians and deepening a catastrophic humanitarian crisis under an ongoing blockade.
Dozens of those killed were reportedly seeking aid near distribution points operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed organization established to circumvent the United Nations’ established aid infrastructure in Gaza.
Among the dead were more than 40 Palestinians gunned down by Israeli forces near GHF sites, according to local health officials and human rights observers.
The latest escalation in Gaza came in the immediate aftermath of Israel’s attacks on Iranian military targets, a move that has drawn international focus and, according to rights groups, temporarily diverted scrutiny from the worsening conditions in the besieged enclave.
On Thursday, Israeli forces also bombed the territory’s last remaining fiber optic cable, plunging the population into a near-total communications blackout. For nearly four days, internet and fixed-line services were severed, cutting off families and journalists from the outside world.
“Why did Israel bomb the main internet fiber route? Why is Israel insisting on isolating Gaza from the world? So we are now deprived from food, water, electricity, and internet,” wrote Gaza-based journalist Hind Khoudary.
Service was not restored until Saturday evening, after repeated delays reportedly enforced by Israeli authorities. The communications blackout coincided with the Israeli military issuing new forced displacement warnings in parts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, messages that many residents could not receive in real time due to the lack of internet access.
GHF, which distributes aid through a limited and opaque system, relies solely on Facebook to announce food drops. With the internet down and no other communication available, starving Palestinians unknowingly approached aid centers on Saturday.
At least 15 people were killed by what witnesses described as deliberate gunfire from Israeli soldiers stationed near the distribution sites.
On Friday, an Israeli military spokesperson vowed that operations in Gaza would continue “with extreme force.” By Saturday, thousands of Palestinians were again ordered to evacuate, further displacing families already living in dire conditions.
“Famine worsens, the siege intensifies, and the dead are everywhere,” wrote Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif in a post on X. He described Gaza as being “immersed in complete isolation from the world.”
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem issued a stark warning, urging the international community not to let developments elsewhere eclipse the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
“Keep Your Eyes on Gaza, even as Israel opens a new front with Iran,” the group said in a statement. “Israel is likely to exploit the diversion of global attention to escalate its attacks on Palestinians.”
Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom have endured months of siege, displacement, and bombing, continue to call for international intervention and accountability.
“While the world’s attention is shifting toward Israel’s attacks on Iran, Israel’s assault on Gaza has not stopped, and the massacres continue,” Al-Sharif added.
“Let us refocus on what’s happening in Gaza, especially the severe health crisis and the devastating famine. It is our responsibility to keep Gaza’s voice alive, to share the reality of the ongoing siege and destruction.”
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