Gaza Internet Blackout: Israel Seeks to Silence Witnesses of Genocide
Internet and phone blackout deepens Gaza’s siege, crippling hospitals, silencing journalists, and leaving civilians without lifelines
Palestine, PUREWILAYAH.COM - In Gaza City, where residents are already surrounded by fire and bombardment, silence has taken on a new form: the sudden collapse of all internet and phone connections.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor confirmed that around 800,000 Palestinians in Gaza City and its northern areas have been left in total isolation after Israeli forces deliberately cut communications on Wednesday.
The blackout coincided with the army’s advance into northwestern neighborhoods and the destruction of towers hosting transmission stations.
Residents describe shouting into the void, unable to call for help or even know where the next strike might fall. In Al-Shati refugee camp, families say they no longer have any way to contact each other, and often remain unaware of strikes occurring just a few hundred meters away.
Humanitarian Consequences of Silence
The blackout has turned Gaza’s long-standing blockade into an even harsher reality. Ambulances and civil defense units can no longer be reached, forcing the wounded to bleed beneath rubble for hours until discovered by chance. Doctors stress that without telecommunications, crucial time is lost and deaths multiply.
Relief organizations, including the Red Crescent and UNRWA, report being unable to coordinate their operations. Hospitals cannot communicate with emergency teams or issue international appeals.
Skyline International warned that these conditions threaten to collapse Gaza’s fragile health system within days, especially as hospitals struggle with shortages of fuel and medical supplies.
Communications as a Target
Human rights monitors say that communications infrastructure itself has become a deliberate target. The Euro-Med Monitor documented repeated Israeli strikes on residential towers containing broadcast stations.
Skyline International denounced the blackout as a systematic policy aimed at concealing war crimes, silencing journalists, and forcing displacement.
The Palestinian Telecommunications Company confirmed that fixed internet and landline services collapsed after Israeli strikes hit major supply routes in Gaza and the north.
Fuel shortages for transmission stations raise the specter of a long-term blackout, a “black isolation” broken only by the sound of airstrikes and ambulance sirens.
War Without Witnesses
For Gazans, the internet was never a luxury. It was their only window to the world — and the world’s only window to them. Now, with that window shut, the assault is doubled: bombs that kill bodies, and silence that erases stories.
On the 712th day of the war, Gaza faces bombardment, hunger, and isolation. Its people cling to survival, sometimes risking their lives to catch a faint phone signal atop crumbling rooftops, struggling to ensure that their voices are not completely extinguished. (PW)