DaysofPal – The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has announced a deepening digital blackout across the Gaza Strip, attributing the widespread outage to the Israeli military’s ongoing and deliberate targeting of critical communications infrastructure.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Authority confirmed that the central and southern governorates of Gaza have now joined Gaza City and northern areas in suffering total digital isolation for the second consecutive day. The blackout, it said, stems from repeated Israeli strikes on key telecommunications networks and main service routes, severely hampering access to digital communication.
“This serious escalation threatens to disconnect the Gaza Strip entirely from the outside world,” the Authority warned, stressing the potentially catastrophic impact on civilians’ access to essential services, including relief operations, healthcare, media, and education.
The Authority further revealed that Israeli occupation forces have obstructed technical crews from reaching and repairing damaged cables since yesterday, while also blocking access to alternative emergency routes that had been developed over the past months.
“There have been ongoing efforts for months and weeks to fix and maintain alternative routes, but these attempts have consistently been met with refusals by the Israeli side,” the statement added. “With the outage continuing, the communications crisis deepens and prolongs the enforced isolation imposed on Gaza.”
The Authority called on all relevant local and international organizations to urgently intervene and ensure safe passage for technical teams to reach outage sites and conduct repairs. It also emphasized the severe humanitarian and social consequences of the blackout if left unaddressed.
Before this latest escalation, the Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunications had announced that telecommunications companies had resumed operating their sites in both northern and southern Gaza following the ceasefire agreement that came into effect in late January. However, the ministry noted that services remained unstable and were repeatedly interrupted due to fuel shortages and continued Israeli strikes.
The digital blackout comes amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023. According to local health authorities, the war has resulted in over 180,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them women and children, with more than 11,000 people reported missing.
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