GAZA: Israel has pounded Gaza as the Palestinian territory suffers under a dire humanitarian situation and grappled with a telecommunications blackout on the 99th day of the offensive.

Witnesses reported Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the early morning, and an AFP journalist said on Friday that strikes and shelling had hit areas between Gaza’s southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, crowded with people who have fled from the north.

The Palestinian Red Crescent posted that the disruption was increasing the challenges in “reaching the wounded and injured promptly”.

UN aid agency OCHA’s head for the occupied Palestinian territories told AFP on Friday that Israel was constantly blocking humanitarian aid convoys into northern Gaza.

“They have been very systematic in not allowing us to support hospitals, which is something that is reaching a point of a level of inhumanity that for me is beyond comprehension,” Andrea De Domenico said.

Israeli military’s advances in northern Gaza continues to face stiff resistance from Palestinian fighters despite extensive Israeli operations in the area, Al Jazeera reports.

The latest report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) says Palestinian armed fighters still maintain a presence in northern Gaza Strip.

The report also quoted an Israeli military official as claiming that most of the local Hamas battalion commanders in the area have been killed but dozens of fighters are still active and are now in “guerilla mode”.