NetBlocks, a network monitoring organization, said that Internet service began gradually returning to the Gaza Strip on Sunday after it was cut off on Friday during intense Israeli bombing operations.
NetBlox reported on the “X” platform (formerly Twitter) that “real-time network data shows that Internet connectivity is gradually returning” in the Gaza Strip, according to Agence France-Presse.
One of AFP’s collaborators in Gaza City confirmed that he was able to connect to the Internet and the mobile phone network and that he was able to contact other people.
Paltel, the main communications group operating in the Gaza Strip, and its subsidiary, Jawwal, also announced, via Facebook, “the gradual return of communications services (fixed, cellular, and Internet) that were cut off in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli bombing on Friday evening.”
This communications outage has prevented millions of residents from communicating with their relatives outside or inside the besieged Gaza Strip.
Starlink comes online
Elon Musk said on Saturday that SpaceX’s Starlink service would support communications lines in Gaza with “internationally recognized relief organizations,” prompting the Israeli Communications Minister to say that Israel would oppose the move.
Musk stated in a post on the social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter, that it is not clear who has authority regarding landlines in Gaza, but we know that “no station has requested a connection in that area.”
The interruption of telephone and Internet services led to the isolation of the residents of the Gaza Strip from the world and from each other on Saturday, and communication with their families, ambulances or colleagues in other places is almost impossible as Israel expands its air and ground attack.
International relief organizations said that the outage, which began yesterday evening, Friday, exacerbated the already deteriorating situation by hindering life-saving operations and preventing organizations from contacting their employees on the ground.
SpaceX has not yet responded to Reuters’ request for comment on how to ensure that relief organizations will use the Starlink communications network and that the Hamas movement that runs the Gaza Strip will not benefit from it.
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