Israel says it controls the west of Gaza City and advances a "new phase" of ground offensive

Israeli troops assure that they are controlling the western part of Gaza City and are heading towards a new stage of their ground offensive on the enclave, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this Thursday.

"We have gained control of the western part of Gaza City" and "we are heading to the next phase" of the invasion of Gaza, the minister said, according to a statement released by his office.

His statements come hours after the Israeli Army announced that it has also taken control of the Gaza port, in the same area of ​​the city, in an operation carried out in recent days, while the troops deepen their advance in the Strip in the 41st day of war.

"The further we advance in the operation, the more we will increase the pressure on Hamas and we will be able to eliminate its terrorist infrastructure, including its headquarters and tunnels, and at the same time we will eliminate its leaders and agents," Gallant stressed.

This occurs while the Army continues for the second day a "precise and selective" operation to locate and dismantle alleged Hamas military infrastructure in the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, also located in the western part of the city, where it says that found information and images of captive hostages.

The ground offensive inside the enclave began on October 27 and since then has left 51 soldiers dead, after Israel announced today the death of three soldiers. For its part, since the war broke out on October 7, Israeli bombings in the enclave have caused more than 11,500 deaths in the Strip.

It is the war with the greatest human damage in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in recent decades.

New blackout in Gaza

The main telecommunications companies in the Gaza Strip announced this Thursday the cutoff of services due to the lack of electricity supply, derived from the serious fuel shortages suffered by the Palestinian enclave since the outbreak of the conflict on October 7.

"We regret to announce that all telecommunications services have been left without service because all the energy sources that support the network have been exhausted and fuel has not been allowed in," the companies Jawwal and Paltel have explained on their social networks.

Companies have been warning for days about these limitations, the result of the lack of electrical generators. Humanitarian agencies have also warned that these blackouts complicate the care of the population and the Government of the Gaza Strip has recognized that poor communications prevent the compilation of a balance of victims of the Israeli military offensive.

The Israeli authorities authorized the entry of fuel for the first time on Wednesday: 23,000 liters destined for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). However, as explained by the organization itself, this shipment is limited to facilitating the operation of vehicles that transport aid.