RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian Authority said Internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory鈥檚 last fiber optic cable it blamed on Israel.

鈥淎ll Internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fiber optic line in Gaza,鈥� the PA鈥檚 telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world.

鈥淭he southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,鈥� the ministry said in a statement.

It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable.

鈥淭he Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday,鈥� it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza 鈥渇or weeks and months.鈥�

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were 鈥渄irectly targeted by occupation forces.鈥�

It said the Internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field.

鈥淭he emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases.鈥�

Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian communication ministry, said that 鈥渕obile calls are still available with very limited capacity鈥� in Gaza for the time being.

Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads.