WAs internet connectivity was restored to Jabaliya in northern Gaza last Thursday following another power outage, Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif used his social media accounts to inform the world of what was happening in the hours in where the area was offline happened. He said Israeli airstrikes hit several houses on the same street in the al-Hawaja neighborhood, killing or wounding an estimated 150 people – but no one knew for sure.

The tightening Israeli siege of Jabaliya and several other parts of the northern Gaza Strip – by tanks and ground troops – meant that civil defense teams and medics could not come to rescue those trapped under the rubble. Apart from al-Sharif, who lives nearby, no reporter could make it either. “No civil defense, no reporting, nothing but death and destruction,” he said in a video from the quiet, dark street. “No one is coming to save her.”

A few days later, there are still no official or comprehensive reports of the attacks on al-Hawaja, a situation repeated across the northern Gaza Strip as movement and communication become increasingly difficult after four weeks of a renewed Israeli offensive in the region.

Israel has regularly blocked telephone and internet networks in the Gaza Strip during its year-long campaign against Hamas, which was sparked by the Palestinian militant group's attack on October 7, 2023. Grids are also often offline because of damaged infrastructure or a lack of electricity or fuel for generators.

But civilians, humanitarian workers, medics and media workers on the ground in northern Gaza say the problem is worsening, affecting efforts to save lives and journalists' ability to report the news.

Communication between hospitals, health workers and aid agencies is becoming increasingly sporadic, and ground fighting is making travel more dangerous, making it difficult to coordinate care and treatment and accurately record accident data. The Civil Defense Service suspended its activities last Wednesday after crews were attacked by Israeli forces and their last fire engine was destroyed by tank fire.

Raja, a 28-year-old pharmacist, along with two friends, did their best to help the wounded after air strikes in Beit Lahia killed at least 40 people on Saturday. There was no way to contact the three hospitals in the area that were still in trouble, and ambulances never arrived; An unknown number of people are believed to be buried under collapsed buildings.

“We helped by carrying the injured or transporting them on donkey carts and we brought them to our house. We had a few tools so we could administer first aid, but we watched as they all took their last breaths. A little boy with an open skull was still alive, I don't know how,” she said. “That hurts the most, feeling so powerless. If there had been ambulances, most of them would still be alive now.”

Israel's new air and ground operation in the north of the Gaza Strip has killed at least 800 people in the area formerly controlled by Hamas, according to doctors and the Ministry of Health. On Tuesday morning, Palestinian officials said another Israeli strike in Beit Lahia killed at least 93 people.

The estimated 400,000 people stuck in the north say conditions are the worst since the war: Israel has attacked hospitals and shelters, and food and water are running out due to a blockade of aid deliveries and sieges that have spread to Jabaliya, Beit, concentrate on running out of Lahia and Beit Hanoun. Several people the Guardian spoke to said they ran out of clean water more than a week ago and had to drink small amounts of sewage every day to survive.

The Israeli military denies systematically trying to force Palestinians from the area to flee to the relatively safe south of the Strip.

The telecommunications outages and movement restrictions are contributing to under- or delayed reporting of the bloodshed and suffering caused by Israel's new offensive in northern Gaza.

Adding to these difficulties, Israel appears to have stepped up its campaign against troubled journalists in the Gaza Strip: five reporters were killed in Israeli airstrikes over the weekend, and Israel has claimed another six still working in the northern Gaza Strip – including al-Sharif – Members were of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which could potentially make them targets.

Israel has killed at least 170 journalists and destroyed 86 media facilities in Gaza so far, according to a new report from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Fiona O'Brien, the UK director of Reporters Without Borders, said: “We are deeply appalled by the continued unfounded allegations linking journalists in Gaza to terrorist groups… Israel is publishing documents claiming this is not sufficient evidence or a license to kill, and puts it at an even higher risk.

“Israel has systematically attempted to shut down media coverage of Gaza and prevent the story from spreading, most obviously through the murder of journalists.

“Our investigations show that at least 32 people were targeted because of their work, but so far there has been complete impunity.”