Internet access in Gaza partially restored after blackout
Reading Time: 2 minutesAfter a weekend of almost complete internet blackout, connectivity in Gaza has been partially restored.
On Friday, internet monitoring firms and experts reported that access to the internet had significantly degraded in the Palestinian enclave. The local internet service NetStream ‘collapsed,’ according to NetBlocks, a firm that tracks internet access across the world. At the same time, IODA, another internet monitoring system, showed outages and degradation across several Palestinian internet providers.
The lack of internet communications caused emergency lines to stop ringing, made it hard for paramedics to locate the wounded, and for family members to reach relatives and friends, according to The New York Times.
On Sunday, IODA reported ‘marginal restoration’ of internet connectivity in Gaza. Abdulmajeed Melhem, chief executive of the Palestinian main telecommunications company Paltel Group, told The Times that the internet had come back even though the company had not made any repairs.
Then on Monday, Gaza had roughly the same access to internet connectivity as before Friday, according to several experts and firms that are monitoring the internet in the region, including Doug Madory, an expert who for years has focused on monitoring networks across the world.
But, Farsakh added, the situation is still challenging.
‘We are still facing difficulties reaching out to them. I need to call them 10 times to get to one,’ Farsakh said.
Cloudflare also shared several graphs showing internet traffic picking back up on Sunday.
It’s unclear what caused the internet outages in Gaza on Friday and what caused the improvements on Sunday and Monday. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the U.S. government put pressure on the Israeli government to switch the internet back on in Gaza, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
‘We made it clear they had to be turned back on,’ the official said. ‘The communications are back on. They need to stay on,’ The Post quoted the official as saying.
Also on Sunday, The Times reported that the U.S. government believed that the Israeli government was responsible for the near-blackout of the internet in Gaza.
The internet issues in Gaza came as the IDF expanded ground operations in Gaza, in addition to continued air strikes. The operations come in response to the terrorist attacks by the militant organization Hamas, which resulted in the death of more than 1,400 Israelis. As of Sunday, the Associated Press reported that Israeli forces have killed around 8,000 Palestinians, citing the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.
Ref: techcrunch
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