Musk said in a post on social media X, formerly known as Twitter, that it is not clear who has authority for ground links in Gaza, but we do know that “no terminal has requested a connection in that area”.

A telephone and internet blackout isolated people in the Gaza Strip from the world and from each other on Saturday, with calls to loved ones, ambulances or colleagues elsewhere all but impossible as Israel widened its air and ground assault.

Gaza, a Palestinian enclave run by Hamas, has been under bombardment since October 7 when Hamas gunmen burst through the Gaza border into Israel and killed some 1,400 people.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 7,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes.

Read: Israel responsible for the destruction of Al-Ahli Hospital: NYT

More than 3,500 children are among the dead. The overall figure is the highest number of war fatalities in Gaza since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the territory in 2005.