The Night of Intense Bombing in Gaza: Communication Cut Off and Ground Fighting Escalates

Friday, around 6:30 p.m., the sky over Gaza seems to burst into flames when a carpet of bombs from the Israeli army descends. Dozens of detonations are heard, coming from the air force but also from Israeli boats along the sides. These bombings are the most intense since the start of the IDF responsefollowing the Hamas attack on October 7.

It’s then a total blackout: communications and internet are cut. It is impossible for the journalists present on site to communicate, unless they manage to connect to the Israeli telephone network.

In parallel, intense ground fighting between the IDF and Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Islamist terrorist organization. According to an Israeli army spokesperson, the soldiers were operating “inside the Gaza Strip as (they) did” while leading an incursion. The French ambassador to Israel confirmed that this was a “new phase” of the Israeli offensivewithout saying if it was the major operation announced by Israel.

In any case, very little information filtered out on Saturday morning on the situation in Gaza, making any human toll impossible. RTL journalists tried, unsuccessfully, to contact their contacts in Gaza but the messages were not even received. The UN General Assembly, for its part, called by a large majority for an “immediate, lasting and sustained humanitarian truce”.