Doctors Without Borders says it lost contact with colleagues in Gaza Strip

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) expressed "deep concern" late Friday about the situation in Gaza and said the group lost contact with some Palestinian colleagues on the ground amid intensified Israeli bombardment.

"We are particularly worried for the patients, medical staff and thousands of families taking shelter at Al Shifa hospital and other health facilities," MSF wrote on X.

"We call for the unequivocal protection of all medical facilities, staff and civilians across the Gaza Strip," it added.

Communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip were completely cut off late Friday amid heavy Israeli bombing of feeder lines, towers and networks, said the Palestine Telecommunications Company.

Ooredoo Palestine, a mobile network operator in the West Bank, said its cellphone services were completely cut off from the Gaza Strip late Friday.

The conflict in Gaza began Oct. 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood -- a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.

The Palestine resistance group said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched a relentless bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been running out of food, water, medicine, and fuel, and aid convoys recently allowed into Gaza have carried a fraction of what is needed.

Nearly 8,800 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 7,326 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis.

Seventy percent of the deaths in Gaza are women and children, according to official figures.