Interesting. I’ve never actually looked into this until this post, but I was wondering how is Palestinian internet run? Is it just at the behest of Israel’s good graces and/or through mobile devices? Yes.

While most telecom networks bury their cables 60cm (about 2ft) underground, PalTel buries its cables up to 8 metres (26ft) deep. In case the Israelis cut off electricity, its data centres in Gaza also have three layers of redundancy: generators, solar panels and batteries.

The company has also developed emergency protocols to direct workers remotely from the occupied West Bank, and if severed communications make this impossible, Gazan staff are empowered to act autonomously.

Despite all the redundancies and preparations, the sheer scale of bombings these past weeks has still crippled the network. About 70 percent of the mobile network has been taken offline. Solar panels have been rendered mostly useless either by being destroyed in attacks or covered in dust and debris.

The relentless nature of the conflict is also weighing on staff, who are dogged by danger from their house to the field.

Rabih*, a fibre optics technician, was called to repair a cable just metres from the border on October 15. Prior to going, he had to give an exhaustive list of the repair team’s names, the colour of their cars and registration numbers to the Israelis, because “a mistake could be deadly”.

As Rabih and his team laboured for two hours to fix the cable, the buzz of a drone above him and the sounds of shelling intermingled with the sound of their excavator.

“Any wrong move could mean being targeted. I cannot explain to my wife and kids why I do that or why I volunteer to go out during the war. My company doesn’t oblige me, but if someone can do it, it has to be me,” he said.

Staff in the West Bank watch their colleagues in Gaza from afar with bated breath, hesitant to ask them to check on damaged equipment, knowing that a simple repair trip could cost them their lives.

Gaza-based staff are under no obligation to go into the field, but most have been eager to volunteer despite the dangers.

“It is very difficult to call my colleagues who are under bombardment and ask them to go out. I feel afraid that if one of them gets hurt, I will never forgive myself,” said Mohammed*, a worker in the Network Operation Centre in the West Bank.

No matter how many metres deep they dig or the number of solar panels they install, Gaza’s connections to the outside world ultimately relies on the Israelis.

The cables that connect Gaza to the outside world run through Israel, and the country on at least two occasions has deliberately cut off the strip’s international communications.

everyone at PalTel are actual heroes - cannot imagine desperately needing aid and being unable to reach anyone because Israel has disabled internet across the entire west bank by cutting the fiber-optic cables. Cannot imagine having to splice a line that the Israelis cut while they fly a drone over your head and aim guns at you.

source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/21/keeping-gaza-online-gazas-telecom-heroes-risk-life-and-limb-under-israels-bombs

Commenting so I come back and do this later