For the first time in the history of Gaza, and after four major rounds of aggression, the Strip reached the stage of complete absence from the world, after communications and the Internet were cut off, as a result of the intense Israeli bombing of communications exchanges, relay towers, and transmission lines.
So how was the Gazans’ battle with being cut off from the world? How were people inside and outside the sector able to come up with ways to overcome the crisis as much as possible?
On the evening of Friday, October 27, the companies “Jawwal” and “Ooredoo,” which provide mobile communications services in Gaza, announced that they had completely cut off their services in the Strip.
Then came a statement from the Palestinian Telecommunications Group, announcing the interruption of all landline telephone communications and Internet services in the Gaza Strip.
The companies explained in separate statements that the unprecedented Israeli bombing of the Strip caused “the destruction of the international paths linking Gaza to the world.”
Electronic campaign
That night, a campaign was launched on social media platforms calling on American billionaire Elon Musk to provide Gaza with satellite internet through his company, Starlink, to which he later responded, expressing his willingness to provide international organizations with satellite internet, but none of this happened.
Throughout the periods of aggression, the complete blackout of communications and the Internet in the Gaza Strip occurred 4 times, the last of which was on December 4th of this year, as a result of the continued aggression and the bombing that affected the infrastructure of communications networks and the Internet, in addition to the exhaustion of the fuel necessary to operate the generators for communications exchanges and signal towers. .
The people of Gaza have sought alternative ways to stay in touch with the world and with their relatives and acquaintances, whether inside or outside the Strip, through various technical means, aid from inside and outside Gaza, and campaigns organized through social media platforms to keep Gaza connected to the world.
Solutions from within
The people of the Gaza Strip searched for any available technical means to help them circumvent the crisis that cut off their communication with each other and with the world.
In the southern areas of the Strip, specifically in Rafah, residents near the border relied on Egyptian networks by activating roaming services, to pick up the signal and be able to make calls or browse the Internet at a minimum that allows them to send short messages on applications such as “WhatsApp.”
Residents of the eastern border areas were also able to pick up transmissions from Israeli networks covering a few parts of the border areas.
Earlier in the war, some people acquired Egyptian SIM cards that they brought with them while traveling outside the Gaza Strip, and some journalists and correspondents also owned Israeli SIM cards.
These and those were able to pick up the transmission while they were in the border areas, and others were forced in the first days of the aggression to climb the high floors of buildings and residential towers to improve the quality of the signal on the phone.
In another context, others sought to try new methods, in which their relatives residing outside the Gaza Strip helped them. Ihab Rajab from Gaza City, who was displaced with his family to the center of the Strip, said, “I tried a lot to catch the broadcast of the Israeli or Egyptian networks, but my presence in the west of Gaza City did not help in that.” “.
He added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “After communicating with one of my relatives abroad, he provided me with an electronic SIM card (ESIM) via a code he sent me, which I scanned and activated. It enables me to make calls and browse the Internet through it, when I am able to activate the roaming service on Israeli networks.”
As for Hassan Abu Thuraya, he returned to Gaza a few days before the start of the aggression to visit his family, and he relied on his Turkish phone SIM card, which he had previously activated for roaming services, to access the Internet or make calls.
This chip sometimes provides him with the ability to access the Internet or make communications. He says, “I recharge the balance and pay bills through my friends in Turkey, and I have intermittent opportunities to make calls and open the Internet depending on the quality of the captured signal.”
In addition to all these technical problems, the problem of closing mobile phone stores that allowed people to buy credit packages and charge them to their phones has emerged in Gaza, which prompted many to communicate with their friends in the West Bank or outside Palestine, to help them fill and charge credit.
Jawwal and Ooredoo also offer free packages to residents of the Gaza Strip, giving them approximately 300 free minutes per month in cases where communications are available.
Expatriates… another story
The interruption of Internet services in Gaza posed a major dilemma during the war for hundreds of thousands of Gazan expatriates around the world, as communication via Internet applications is the least expensive option for them, and here many resorted to searching for new ways and alternatives to communicate with their families within the Strip.
Muhammad Al-Madhoun, from Gaza and residing in Istanbul, resorted to the “Skype” application to purchase international calling packages, which enable him to communicate with his family and relatives without the need for their phones to be connected to the Internet, so they receive the call via mobile phone as any normal call.
Al-Madhoun told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “I was able to make calls after great suffering as a result of the weak reception network in Gaza, but the company disabled my account, and after I wrote to technical support, they said that the ban was due to my calling on the territory of the Palestinian Authority without providing any explanations.”
Other expatriates purchased international calling packages through mobile phone service providers in their countries despite their high cost, while Muhammad Sabah, who resides in Britain, decided to buy virtual phone numbers or what is known as “ESIM” and charge them through his bank account, as they provide reduced calling rates. Compared to the prices of British companies.
Mahmoud Rizq, a Gazan resident in Canada, told Tel Aviv Tribune that he was unable to contact his family in Gaza in any way, so he resorted to calling one of his friends in the West Bank, who was calling the family via mobile phone since the call was local between Gaza and the West Bank.
Mahmoud added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that he was calling his friend in the West Bank, and the latter would call Mahmoud’s family, then merge the two calls together. Other times, he would place two phones opposite each other so Mahmoud could check on his family.
Despite the above, all technical attempts and means of communication to and from Gaza remain dependent on the availability of transmission and reception networks, whether for telephone or Internet, and these solutions remain incapable of achieving what is required in the event of interruption of coverage in the required places.