Intensified Israeli shelling of Gaza has downed the enclave’s tele and internet communications.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said they are unable to connect with their teams amid telecommunications and internet disruptions in the besieged Gaza Strip.

During an Israeli offensive on southern Gaza on Tuesday, the PRCS’ headquarters in Khan Younis was hit. The centre was hosting thousands of internally displaced Palestinians seeking shelter.

It later emerged that the Very High Frequency (VHF) radio network communications system was also damaged in the process.

In a post via X on Tuesday, the PRCS said the VHF network system, which is located on the upper floors of the PRCS’ Khan Younis building, sustained damage from Israeli artillery shelling.

“Complete loss of communication with our teams working in the #Gaza Strip due to the disruption of telecommunications and internet services,” the PRCS said.

“This presents a significant challenge for emergency medical teams,” they added. 

Palestine’s telecommunications company, Paltel, also announced the downing of all communications in Gaza on Tuesday.

“We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip (sic) have been lost due to the ongoing aggression,” Paltel said in an X post.

“Gaza is blacked out again,” the post concluded.

Al Arabiya News report this as the fourth such breakdown since Israeli escalations renewed on October 7.

Meanwhile, Israel’s continuous bombardment is pushing Gaza’s humanitarian crises to the brink.

On December 21 alone, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 10,095 Palestinians required hospital visits between eight remaining functional UN Relief and Works Agency medical centres in the south of Gaza.

While in northern Gaza, according to UN OCHA, the Strip’s former largest hospital is now reduced to only being able to provide basic first aid following a series of violent Israeli military stormings.

Israeli pipelines supplying water to the north also haven’t worked since October 8, the UN OCHA report added.

Despite these glaring human rights violations, there is no let up in Israel’s bid to “dismantle terrorist organisations”.

According to a Tuesday Reuters report, Israel’s military chief, Herzi Halevi, has vowed that Israel will continue to pound Gaza for “many months”.

“The war will go on for many months and we will employ different methods to maintain our achievements for a long time,” he said.

Israel’s vicious military methods, such as targeting the PRCS’ headquarters, have resulted in more than 20,000 civilian casualties since October 7.