When internet connectivity returned to Jabaliya in northern Gaza after yet another blackout last Thursday, Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif took to his social media accounts to let the world know what happened during the hours the area was offline. Israeli airstrikes had hit several houses on the same street in the al-Hawaja neighbourhood, he said, killing or wounding an estimated 150 people – but no one knew for sure.
The ever-tightening Israeli siege of Jabaliya and several other parts of northern Gaza – enforced by tanks and ground troops – meant that civil defence teams and medics could not come to rescue those trapped under the rubble. No reporters could make it either, other than al-Sharif, who lives nearby. “No civil defence, no coverage, nothing but death and destruction,” he said in a video from the quiet, dark street. “No one is coming to save them.”
