Internet services in Iran have degraded substantially amid a growing conflict with Israel.

The exact cause - whether from missile and drone strikes, mounting cyberattacks, or internal defensive cuts - is currently unknown.

From around 13:50 UTC 17 June, services in the country began falling by around 75 percent, with the issue spread across the nation. Telecoms providers Irancell, MCCI, Pars Online, and Rightel were all impacted.

"Analysis of telemetry shows a significant reduction in internet traffic in Iran; the incident comes amid an escalating conflict with Israel and is likely to limit the public's ability to access information at a critical time," outage tracker NetBlocks said.

The worst of the outage continued until around 19:45 UTC, before services started to return - although they still remain below previous levels.

Hundreds of sites have been hit across the country, with Israel claiming to be targeting military figures and scientists involved in Iran's nuclear weapons programs.

Alongside kinetic attacks, Israel has ramped up its attacks in the cyber domain. Predatory Sparrow, an Israeli hacking group, this week claimed credit for a series of attacks against a major Iranian bank.

Bank Sepah is suffering ongoing issues, with customers unable to access accounts or make withdrawals. All of the nation's gas stations rely on the bank to process transactions.

The Iranian government has pinned the blame for the Internet outage partly on cyberattacks, such as the breach of Bank Sepah.

"Given the enemy's cyberattacks, it is natural that they are forced to slow down the Internet speed at times to maintain network stability," spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a state broadcast (translated).

Mohajerani called the slowdown "temporary, targeted, and controlled, to ward off cyberattacks."

Israeli cybersecurity firm Radware said that it had seen escalating threats of cyberattacks on the nation from Iran, but that it has yet to see any Internet disruption outside of the Occupied Territories.

From 10-15 June, Internet in the central and southern governorates of Palestine's Gaza Strip fell abruptly. Operator Paltel attributed the outage to a cut in one of the main routes.

A UN Human Rights Council-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) report found this week that more than 90 percent of schools and university buildings across Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, shelling, burning, and controlled demolitions.

“We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission.

The humanitarian agency UNICEF is currently conducting a charity drive to provide critical medical aid to children in the region.