MONROE — Former Monroe High School exchange student Anastasia Yacoub, trapped in the Gaza Strip, has been able to reconnect to the outside world after some nearby cell phone service was restored Sunday.
During the latest blitz by Israel in the now 3-plus-week long war, communication services were turned off for the region. United Nations representatives, journalists and humanitarian aid workers stuck in the Gaza Strip were among those without a means to communicate while Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a ground invasion into the narrow state.
According to reports in Hebrew media, Israeli forces are attempting to cut off Gaza City from the south, effectively isolating and laying siege to the urban sprawl that extends north all the way to Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia.
For nearly two days service was out, family and friends of Palestinian civilians trapped inside patiently waited to hear or see any communication from their loved ones.
Those inside Gaza share solar charging stations to keep cell phones powered, and many use Israel-based SIM cards in hopes of connecting to local cell service so they can communicate with family and friends by social media, telephone or the popular WhatsApp, which can make phone calls and send text messages over the internet when phone and cell towers are offline.
When she was able to reconnect her phone on Oct. 29, Anastasia posted on social media, “Internet and signal were cut off and now it’s back. We couldn’t check up on anyone or know any news.”
Yacoub and her family (mother, father, and 5-year-old brother) have fled the northern half of Gaza since the war broke out on Oct. 7, when Hamas, the ruling party of the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and kidnapping more than 200 others.
In response, the IDF has launched three weeks of air raids, destroying much of the region and turning entire neighborhoods, schools, hospitals and places of worship into rubble. More than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed in the counterattacks.
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated lands in the world, with more than 2.3 million people packed inside its narrow walls. Of those civilians, nearly 50% are children under the age of 17.
According to Save the Children, an independent international organization based out of the United Kingdom, more children in Gaza have been killed in the past three weeks of shelling (3,195) than all children in all global conflicts dating back to 2019 combined.
“Children make up more than 40% of the 7703 people killed in Gaza, and more than a third of all fatalities across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel. With a further 1000 children reported missing in Gaza assumed buried under the rubble, the death toll is likely much higher,” Save the Children shared in a press release Oct. 29.
Many in the international community, including UNESCO, UN, and various humanitarian agencies, have pleaded with both parties — Israel and Hamas — for a ceasefire in order to distribute critical life-saving humanitarian aid. Israel shut off the flow of drinking water, food, electricity and fuel days after the conflict started, and many forms of communication have been severed as well.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire, and speaking at a press conference on Oct. 30 said it is time “to decide if we are willing to fight for a future of hope and promise, or surrender to tyranny and terror.”
He went on to say that he hasn’t considered stepping down as prime minister, despite a fast drop in public support. When the war first broke out, 64% of Israelis supported Netanyahu’s response. That number has now dropped to just 46%, according to a new poll taken by Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“The only thing that I intend to resign is Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We’re going to resign them to the dustbin of history. That’s my goal. That’s my responsibility. That’s what I’m leading the country to do. This is my responsibility now.”
Others in the international community, including UN officials, have suggested the “collective punishment” Israel has imposed on Gaza civilians is akin to a war crime.
The international criminal court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, recently said impeding aid could constitute a war crime and urged Israel to allow more trucks to enter. Thus far, more than 144 aid trucks carrying food supplied and medical equipment have been allowed to cross the border into Gaza, with another 26 trucks entering on Monday.
However, with roads damaged or blocked, and the morale of those yet inside devastated, aid has been hard to get to places its needed most, like hospitals and humanitarian shelters. The UN reported some of its storage units with essentials like flour and hygiene products had been broken into in recent days.