Israel-Hamas War Updates: The Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal said in a message on its Facebook page late on Friday that mobile phone service and internet in the Gaza Strip have been cut off due to heavy bombardment, reports news agency Reuters. Intense Israeli strikes have rocked northern Gaza, AFP footage showed. The Hamas government has also said that the internet and communications have been cut across the territory. Israel's chief military spokesperson said on Friday that the air and ground forces are stepping up operations in the Gaza Strip. "In the last hours, we intensified the attacks in Gaza," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a televised news briefing. He said the air force was conducting extensive strikes on tunnels and other infrastructure.
Here Are the Top Updates:
1. United Nations Secretary-General Antoni Guterres appealed for the monitoring of aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing to be "adjusted to allow many more trucks to enter Gaza without delay."
2. "The humanitarian system in Gaza is facing a total collapse with unimaginable consequences for more than 2 million civilians," Guterres said in a statement, as quoted by news agency Reuters.
3. The Israel Defence Forces' (IDF) spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said that the Hamas terror group's main base of operations is under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, The Times of Israel reported.
4. Speaking to reporters, he said that Hamas has many underground complexes under Shifa, which is the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. He claimed that Hamas is using it to direct attacks on Israel. PM Netanyahu also tweeted that 'Hamas Turned Hospitals Into Headquarters For Terror'.
5. The World Health Organization said that it urgently needs an estimated $80 million to respond to the humanitarian needs in the West Bank and Gaza and to undertake contingency planning for Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan through the end of 2023.
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6. At least 7,326 Palestinians, including 3,038 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Friday.
7. Israel's war against Hamas after the terrorist group brutally massacred 1,400 civilians and soldiers and kidnapped 228 is only beginning, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
8. A UN committee has voiced concern about a "sharp increase in racist hate speech and dehumanisation" directed at Palestinians by Israelis, including senior officials, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The diplomatic mission of Israel in Geneva criticised the statement, which said it "failed all the victims of the October 7 massacre and the victims of antisemitic attacks worldwide".
9. Israel says some 1,400 people were killed and more than 220 taken hostage when Hamas gunmen carried out attacks in southern Israel, prompting weeks of Israeli strikes on Gaza.
10. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the world has reached a "perilous moment" in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip. he also stressed: "The United States has made clear, in both public and private conversations, that as Israel exercises its right ... to defend its people against a terrorist group, it must do so in line with the rules of war."
(With input from agencies)