UN warns that current communication blackout will cut Gaza off from world

The UN said on Thursday that the Gaza Strip has experienced a "complete collapse" of digital infrastructure.

Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told a news conference that there is "a complete collapse of internet and data services that is paralysing aid operations across the Gaza Strip".

"Lifelines to emergency services, humanitarian coordination, and critical information for civilians have all been cut. There is a full internet blackout, and mobile networks are barely functioning.” 

Haq added that partners working on telecommunications said that it was due to damage to the last fibre cable route serving Central and Southern Gaza, likely caused during heavy (Israeli) military activity. 

Haq stressed that "this is not a routine outage, but a total failure of Gaza's digital infrastructure".

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said that internet and phone services collapsed across the Gaza Strip because of "systemic targeting" by Israel. It accused Israel of deliberately targeting key telecom networks and main fibre-optic routes,

The Authority said it had made repeated efforts to repair damaged infrastructure. 

It had tried to restore services on Wednesday after Gaza City and northern Gaza lost internet connectivity on Tuesday. However, it had said that the south and central areas of the Strip also faced a total communications blackout.

It warned that the telecom blackout threatened to disconnect Gaza from the outside world and cut off access to critical services such as emergency aid, healthcare, media coverage, and education.