Israel launches 'most intense' airstrikes across northern Gaza, internet services snapped

Hamas said the internet service has been snapped in the Gaza Strip. As per reports, contact with Gaza is lost.

The Israeli military said it had increased its strikes on Gaza "in a very significant way".

"We will continue to strike in Gaza City and around," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised address.

According to the Hamas government, Israel has "cut communications and most of the internet" across the Gaza Strip on Friday.

The government's media office accused Israel of taking the measure "to perpetrate massacres with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea," as heavy strikes hit northern Gaza.

Rocket warning sirens blared in several cities in Israel while the airstrikes in northern Gaza were going on.

The Israeli army accused Hamas of abusing hospitals in the Gaza Strip for military purposes.The allegation was swiftly denied by Hamas, and the main United Nations agency working in Gaza said earlier it had mechanisms in place to prevent aid being diverted.

On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel.

The escalation of the conflict has resulted in thousands of people being killed and injured on both sides.