Gaza’s two main telecommunications companies have warned of a “total telecommunications blackout in the coming hours” due to a lack of fuel amid an Israeli siege on the Palestinian territory.
“The main data centers and switches in the Gaza Strip are gradually closing due to the exhaustion of fuel,” Paltel and Jawwal said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The companies said that “all generators” that operated the grid elements in Gaza were shut down and that the core elements of the grid now relied on batteries.
Our main data centers and switches in 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩 are gradually closing due to fuel depletion. Currently, the main network elements rely solely on batteries.
This will lead to a complete upheaval of telecommunications in the coming hours. #KeepGazaConnected– Jawwal (@JawwalPal) November 15, 2023
“The countdown has begun for the shutdown of all communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip,” Laith Daraghmeh, CEO of the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, said in a statement cited by the agency. official Turkish press Anadolu.
He indicated that negotiations were underway with international institutions “to ensure the entry of the quantities of fuel necessary for the operation of the communications service.”
On Sunday, Palestinian Communications Minister Yitzhak Sidr warned that all communications and internet services would be disrupted in the Gaza Strip by Thursday due to running out of fuel.
Israel cut off fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip as part of a “complete siege” of the territory after Hamas fighters from Gaza launched an attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
Since the attack, Israel has bombed Palestinian territory, launched a ground offensive and severely restricted supplies of water, food and electricity. More than 11,300 people were killed in the Israeli attack, according to Palestinian authorities, including more than 4,600 children.
The first tanker truck to enter Gaza since Israel imposed the siege arrived in the besieged territory on Wednesday.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said it had received 23,000 liters of fuel, which Israel said could be used to transport aid arriving via Egypt. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said 160,000 liters per day were needed just to carry out basic humanitarian operations.
“It is appalling that fuel continues to be used as a weapon of war,” Lazzarini said. “This seriously cripples our work and the delivery of aid to Palestinian communities in Gaza. »
Since Israel launched a ground invasion in late October, Gaza has already experienced two power outages, after Israel cut off communications and internet services.
Aid agencies and first responders warned that the power outages were seriously disrupting their work and putting lives at risk.
“People will be deprived of access to vital information, like finding safe areas or contacting emergency services,” said Rasha Abdul-Rahim, director of Amnesty Tech.
“The essential work of humanitarian agencies will also be seriously disrupted, as workers lose contact with each other,” she added.
Another telecommunications outage means not only cutting off Gazans from each other and the rest of the world, but also preventing the injured and those trapped under rubble from being rescued. 6/10
– Rasha Abdul-Rahim 🇵🇸 (@Rasha_Abdul) November 15, 2023
“Telecommunications blackouts allow Israel to cover up the massive atrocities committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza and maintain its chronic impunity,” Al Mezan, a Gaza-based human rights group, said in a statement.
Communications networks in Gaza have been unreliable since the start of the war due to lack of electricity and damage to infrastructure.
The Palestinian Communications Ministry has already called on neighboring Egypt to operate communications stations near the border with Gaza and activate roaming service on Egyptian networks.
The warning comes after the Israeli army entered Gaza’s largest medical complex, al-Shifa, in what it called a “targeted operation” aimed at searching for Hamas weapons and infrastructure. Several people were arrested during the hospital search.
The raid comes after Israeli forces besieged the hospital for several days, amid growing concern over deteriorating conditions at the facility, where the UN says thousands of people have sought refuge flee the war. Hundreds of patients remain at the hospital, which stopped operating over the weekend due to a lack of fuel.
Ahmed Mokhallalati, a surgeon at the hospital, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Israeli forces moved tanks inside the hospital after “continuous and aggressive shooting, shelling and attacks since last night.”
“Imagine being in a hospital where water is not there, basic hygiene of people going to the toilet is a challenge. Food and drinking water have not arrived at the hospital for six days now, and there is no way to get anything to the hospital,” Mokhallalati said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement that it was “urgently exploring the possibility of evacuating patients and medical staff” from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, during discussions with the Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila and the International Committee of the Red Cross. (ICRC).