Israel surrounds Gaza City, territory’s North cut off from South: Top updates

Israeli forces severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory ahead of an expected push into Gaza City, Associated Press reported.

Troops are set to enter the city soon, Israeli media reported as Hamas are expected to fight street by street using a vast network of tunnels. The month-old war has already killed more than 9,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry while some 1,400 Israelis have died.

Here are top updates on Israel-Hamas war:

The Israeli military said that it had cut off northern Gaza from the south, calling it a “significant stage” in the war.

Israel said that a one-way corridor for residents to flee south would remain available for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in Gaza City.

Some 1.5 million Palestinians, around 70% of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes since the war began as the territory runs low on food, medicine, fuel and water.

Mobile phone and internet service went down overnight in Gaza city, the third territory-wide outage since the start of the war.

It was gradually restored on Monday, according to the Palestinian telecom company Paltel and internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org.

Israel has so far rejected US suggestions for a pause in fighting to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries. Israel has also dismissed calls for a broader cease-fire from increasingly alarmed Arab countries including Jordan and Egypt.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken also wrapped up his Middle East diplomatic tour in Turkey.

Over 450 trucks carrying aid have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt since October 21 but humanitarian workers say it’s insufficient to meet mounting needs in the territory.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said that in the past 24 hours over 450 Hamas targets were struck “including terrorists, military compounds, observation posts, anti-tank missile launch posts.”

Antony Blinken said, “We have made good progress in recent days on expanding” the aid getting into Gaza following talks in Ankara with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan.

“All of this is a work in progress,” he said before leaving Turkey, adding, “We don’t obviously agree on everything, but there are common views on some of the imperatives of the moment that we’re working on together.”