Internet and phone services are gradually being restored in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, October 29, after a complete interruption of service that lasted approximately 36 hours.
Taking to X, on Sunday, Paltel Group, which provides communications services in Gaza, wrote, “We are pleased to announce that telecommunication services (landline, mobile, and internet) in Gaza Strip, disrupted on Friday, October 27, 2023, due to the ongoing aggression, are gradually being restored.”
“Our technical teams are diligently addressing the damage to the internal network infrastructure under challenging conditions,” it said.
“May God protect you all and our Country.”
NetBlox Observatory, which monitors Internet access, also said that Internet connectivity in the Gaza Strip has been restored.
The company previously wrote on X, “Network data shows that Internet connectivity is returning to the Gaza Strip.”
On Friday, October 27, the Gaza Strip has lost all connection to the phone and internet access due to Israeli bombardment.
Paltel wrote on X that, “The heavy bombardment of the last hour has caused the destruction of all remaining international tracks linking Gaza to the outside world.”
On Saturday, October 28, Elon Musk said, “Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.”
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi expressed his disapproval of Elon Musk’s decision on X.
“Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this,” and claimed that Hamas would only use Musk’s aid for terrorist activities.
“There is no doubt about it, we know it, and Musk knows it. HAMAS is ISIS,” he said. “Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them!”
Musk responded to Karhi, stating, “We are not so naive. Per my post, no Starlink terminal has attempted to connect from Gaza.”
“If one does, we will take extraordinary measures to confirm that it is used only for purely humanitarian reasons. Moreover, we will do a security check with both the US and Israeli governments before turning on even a single terminal.”
The Israeli aggression continues for the 23rd day in a row, mainly targeting inhabited homes, causing more fatalities and wounded among citizens, in addition to destroying homes and infrastructure.
In Gaza alone, 8,005 Palestinians have been killed, including 3,500 children and 20,242 citizens wounded due to Israeli attacks.
On the Israeli side, at least 1,405 people have been killed, including 306 soldiers, 5,431 injured and more than 220 hostages captured.
The war began on October 7 after Hamas infiltrated southern Israel, sending fighters, firing 5,000 rockets, and taking hostages, which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn of “a long and difficult war.“
