The continuous Israeli bombing of various areas of the Gaza Strip since last October 7 destroyed the infrastructure and caused about 70% of Internet sources to be out of service, which means that most of the Gaza Strip’s residents will lose that service, in addition to the deliberate interruption of service more than once.
In the first days of the war, the Israeli army destroyed the main building of the Palestinian Telecommunications Company, which is considered the main provider of Internet service in Gaza, and the war also stopped all private companies providing service in the Strip.
Service alternatives
In the absence of satellite Internet service, residents of the Gaza Strip resort to alternatives to obtain the Internet, most notably electronic SIM cards and SIM cards from Israeli telecommunications companies. These alternatives only work through transmissions from Israeli mobile companies; Which constitutes a great risk, because those wishing to serve are forced to go to areas close to the border with Israel, the seashore, or high areas; These are areas where the possibility of attacks is high.
Muhammad Abu Qamar, one of the displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip, says to his family that due to the interruption of Internet service in homes, he was forced to search for alternatives to provide the service in order to communicate with his relatives in the northern Gaza Strip and outside Gaza.
What Abu Qamar resorted to, as he explained to Sky News Arabia, was that he had to buy an advanced mobile phone of the type that supports electronic chips, and an electronic chip to communicate with his relatives.
He continues: “It requires me to be present in dangerous areas to reach the service. The eastern border is close to Israeli army vehicles, and the seashore is close to gunboats, and we sometimes come under fire.”
Escaping from death
For his part, Hassan Alwan, from the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, said that on one of the occasions when he tried to connect to the Internet, he escaped death while he was near the border areas, after an Israeli bombing of a number of residents.
Alwan added to Sky News Arabia that he was close to the border areas to connect to the Internet via the Israeli communications network with a group of citizens when the Israeli army surprised them with artillery shelling, which led to the injury and death of a number of them.
But Alloun and those with him continue to go to these places, explaining this by saying: “We are forced to risk our lives in order to communicate with the outside world and learn about the news of the truce and the bombing, especially since we are isolated from the media due to the interruption of electricity and public services as a result of the war.”
Preliminary estimates
As a specialist and official in this field, the Director General of Communications Affairs at the Palestinian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Murad Al-Zeitawi, gives “Sky News Arabia” a picture of the state of the communications sector after 4 and a half months of war.
Al-Zeitawi said, “The telecommunications sector suffered huge losses, including all cities and various telecommunications companies. Gaza can be considered a technological disaster area, and it is difficult to estimate the losses now, although initial estimates indicate that they exceed hundreds of millions of dollars.”
In addition, Israel “refuses to grant Internet companies the necessary coordination to restore service to what it was before the seventh of last October, and it also continues to target technical crews, which led to the injury and death of a number of them.”
If the war ends, the government official expects that telecommunications and Internet companies will need several months to restore services to the population. Due to the destruction of the infrastructure.
#cessation #Palestinian #companies. #Gaza #Internet