Communication services gradually restored in Gaza after 8-day cut

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
20 Jan 2024 04:08

The Palestinian telecommunications company PalTel says its teams have restored basic services to subscribers as they were before the recent interruption.

An antenna of a communications tower that relays phone and internet signals is pictured in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 28, 2023. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

The Palestinian telecommunications company PalTel announced on Friday the gradual restoration of communication services to various areas in the Gaza Strip, indicating that its technical teams have been working in recent days to repair many of the major malfunctions caused by the ongoing Israeli aggression.

In a statement, the company said that despite the danger and difficulty of the conditions, its teams have succeeded in restoring basic services to subscribers as they were before the recent interruption.

Paltel confirmed that two of its technical team members lost their lives during the recent repair operation as a result of direct shelling, bringing the number of company employees who have been martyred since the beginning of the aggression to 14.

The Palestinian Telecommunication Company - Jawwal:

We would like to announce the gradual restoration of communication services in various areas of Gaza Strip.
— Paltel (@Paltelco) January 19, 2024

Prior to the statement, the communications and Internet services cut had entered its eighth day, making it the longest cut since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The NetBlocks website, which monitors communications networks around the world, said the cut was "the longest continuous communications cut ever."

Palestinian telecommunications companies Paltel and Ooredoo Palestine announced last Friday the complete cessation of communications and Internet services in the Gaza Strip, which were deliberately cut by the Israeli occupation forces.

Ooredoo said in a similar statement, "With the continuation of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, the main lines feeding telecommunications and Internet companies were repeatedly damaged, which led to the cessation of all our services in the south and center of the Gaza Strip."

The telecommunications sector has been continuously targeted during the Israeli aggression on Gaza, with the extent of damage reaching over 80%. Additionally, technical crews have been directly targeted while performing their duties, despite prior coordination through international institutions.

The United Nations has warned that the blackouts are worsening the Strip's already dire humanitarian situation.

"The blackout of telecommunications prevents people in Gaza from accessing lifesaving information or calling for first responders and impedes other forms of humanitarian response," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Thursday.

This comes as the Ministry of Health in Gaza has confirmed on the 105th day of the Israeli aggression that the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation has reached 24,762 while another 62,108 have been injured since October 7.