RAFAH: The Israeli military has mistakenly killed three hostages in Gaza. According to an initial inquiry, the victims had been holding up a white flag in an area of intense combat where Hamas militants operate in civilian attire and use deception tactics.
An official said the hostages were fired upon against Israel’s rules of engagement. Israel, which said it recovered the bodies of three other hostages killed by Hamas, believes around 20 of more than 130 hostages still held in Gaza are dead.
Meanwhile, a prolonged communication blackout that severed telephone and internet connections compounded the misery in the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday where a United Nations agency said hunger levels had spiralled in recent days.
Internet and telephone lines went down on Thursday evening and were still inaccessible on Saturday morning, according to internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org, hampering aid deliveries and rescue efforts as Israel’s war against Gaza’s ruling militant group Hamas stretched into the 11th week.
The UN humanitarian affairs department said communications with Gaza were “severely disrupted” due to damage to telecommunications lines in the south.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces bombarded targets across Gaza, including a YMCA building housing displaced people, with dozens of Palestinians reported killed or wounded, despite a renewed US call to scale down the campaign and focus on Hamas leaders. In Khan Younis in the south, Palestinian health officials said Nasser Hospital had received 20 Palestinians killed in air strikes overnight, in addition to dozens of wounded, including women and children.
The official WAFA news agency said at least three dozen people had been killed in strikes on three houses in the Jabalia refugee camp, which health officials were unable to confirm.
Gaza’s health ministry has said Israel’s ground offensive and the targeting of medical facilities have made it hard to gather information about casualties in northern Gaza.