(16 Dec 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah, Gaza Strip - 16 December 2023
1. Various of plume of smoke billowing after explosion in distance
STORYLINE:
A plume of smoke was seen billowing in the distance from Rafah in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as Israel's war against Gaza's ruling militant group Hamas stretched into the 11th week.
The misery in the besieged Gaza Strip, where a United Nations agency said hunger levels had spiraled in recent days, was compounded by a prolonged communications blackout that severed telephone and internet connections.
Internet and telephone lines went down Thursday evening and were still inaccessible Saturday morning, according to internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org, hampering aid deliveries and rescue efforts.
The offensive, triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.
More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday before the communications blackout.
Displaced people have squeezed into shelters mainly in the south in a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
In their Oct. 7 attack, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostage.
AP video by Mohammad Jahjouh
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