Elon Musk has announced that Starlink satellite internet will be provided to aid organizations in Gaza following a disruption in communications that occurred on Friday. Internet and cellular services in Gaza went offline after an Israeli attack on the territory, which was part of preparations for an expanded ground operation after the October 7th Hamas attacks.
During this outage, the emergency 101 telephone number became non-functional, making it impossible to call for ambulances. Journalists and aid workers in Gaza also lost contact with the outside world, as reported by outlets like The Guardian.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat congresswoman, voiced her criticism of the loss of telecommunications and internet access on the social media platform X. In response to her concerns, Elon Musk confirmed that Starlink would support connectivity for internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.
Mark Regev, a senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explained on BBC Radio 4 that disrupting enemy communications is standard practice in military operations conducted by various armies, including the British and American. However, he mentioned the need for a full briefing from the Israeli military to understand why the communications were disrupted.
As of now, there has been no official confirmation that Starlink has formally extended its services to Gaza beyond Elon Musk’s initial tweet.
