Israel says Gaza split in two in 'significant stage' of war against Hamas

Israel's military has said it has split the Gaza Strip in two, with its troops expected to enter the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City in the north within 48 hours.

"Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters, calling it a "significant stage" in Israel's war against Hamas.

The news followed a temporary collapse in communications and internet services across the besieged territory and came as two refugee camps in central Gaza were hit by explosions on Sunday that killed at least 45 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had opened a four-hour humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to travel from northern Gaza to the south, amid "criticism of how the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza is being handled and questions over how civilians are supposed to heed IDF warnings when communications keep being blocked", ITV News reported.

This "growing disquiet about the mounting civilian casualty toll and suffering" was reflected by tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marching in cities around the world over the weekend, NBC News said. "Protesters, particularly in countries with large Muslim populations, including the US, UK and France, expressed disillusionment with their governments for supporting Israel while its bombardments of hospitals and residential areas in the Gaza strip intensify," it added.

Continuing his second whistle-stop "diplomatic shuttle" in the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken followed a trip to the West Bank with an unannounced visit to Iraq as "Washington tries to prevent a regional spillover of the conflict", said France 24. He is next expected in Turkey, where hundreds of protesters at a pro-Palestinian rally reportedly tried to storm an air base near Adana in southern Turkey that houses US troops, Reuters reported.

As Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group continue to exchange fire along their border, Sky News reported that some workers and their family members at the British embassy in Beirut have been "temporarily withdrawn as fears grow the war could spiral into a regional conflict".