New Delhi: Israel has cut off internet and telecommunications services on Gaza Strip for the last seven days, making it the longest period that the people of the Palestinian region have been cut off from the world since Israel attacked the area in October last year.“Internet shutdowns are a matter of life and death in Gaza. It is unconscionable to toy with connectivity amidst unprecedented violence and unfathomable human suffering. The international community must act now to end the war and internet shutdowns. The silence so far has been glaring,” the digital civil rights non-profit Access Now has said in a statement.Paltel, a Palestinian internet service provider announced total loss of all telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip “due to the ongoing aggression” on January 12.Twelve of Gaza’s ISPs have remained down since October 2023, Access Now noted.The shutdowns have exacerbated the challenges of humanitarian work as over two million people tackle displacement, injuries, missing family and deaths.“The current internet shutdown comes at a time when two workers from Jawaal, another Palestinian ISP, were killed by an Israeli missile targeting their car on January 13, while they attempted to repair telecommunications infrastructure in Khan Yunis,” Access Now further noted.
