Türkiye has said that Israel's blackout, intended to prevent all international communication channels connecting Gaza to the outside world "clearly indicates an intent to commit war crimes."
"This is an attempt to hide the ugly truth of Israeli destruction of civilian lives," Fahrettin Altun, Turkish communications director said late on Friday after Israel announced expanding its land "operations" inside besieged Gaza.
Israel is showing once again that it is not interested in protecting civilians or respecting basic human rights, Altun said on X, formerly Twitter.
"The complete cutoff of landline, mobile, and internet communications in the Gaza Strip signals the latest stage in Israel's military campaign against Palestinians."
The Turkish official said while Israeli military continues heavy bombardment on the tiny Palestinian enclave "its simultaneous effort to destroy communications is a blatant attack on the most fundamental human rights and values." He also accused the Western countries of continued inaction in the face of "this assault that renders them complicit in this crime."
"The reckless disregard for the humanity of the people in Gaza and the collective punishment unleashed upon them are unconscionable and indefensible." Altun said those who oppose any restrictions on Israel's ability to attack indiscriminately and without any consequences "must take another look at where they stand."
"They must realise that their enabling stance in these horrible days will go down as a permanent stain in their history."
Calling for immediate halt in Israeli aggression on Gaza, Altun said the world powers supporting atrocities on Palestinians "have no moral high ground to lecture anyone from now on."
