Latest news with #internetblackout
The National
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Gaza remains cut off from the world as focus turns to Israel's attacks on Iran
Gaza remained in digital darkness for a third consecutive day on Friday, unable to share its suffering or access life-saving information, as global attention focused on Israel's attacks on Iran. The breakdown of mobile and internet services was caused by damage to fibre optic links by Israeli bombardment, but Palestinian repair crews are not allowed to restore services. 'All eyes are on Iran now,' said Nahil Khader, 42, from Gaza city. 'I tried to go to a cafe just to find out what's happening outside. I heard Israel attacked Iran, but I don't know if that's good or bad for us. Maybe it could pressure Israel into a deal with Hamas, or maybe it will make things worse," he told The National. "The terrifying part is that no one is even paying attention to what's happening in Gaza any more.' Mr Khader described the isolation of earlier internet outages during first months of war, when Gaza city was cut off as Israeli attacked in response to deadly Hamas raids on Israel on October 7, 2023. 'When the internet finally returned, I realised how much had happened without us knowing. We were just trying to survive here. I really hope this blackout doesn't last long, because if it does, no one will see what we're going through. No one will know.' Dalia Younis, a Palestinian who fled Gaza for Egypt during the war, said she was consumed with anxiety about her relatives trapped inside Gaza. 'I'm extremely worried about my family. I can't call them. I can't hear anything. There's a fire burning in my chest as long as I remain in the dark,' she said. 'At first, I thought it was just a temporary outage. But now, after the Israeli attack on Iran, I fear this blackout is intentional, to keep attention on Iran while Israel escalates its attacks on Gaza, hidden from the world's eyes.' Activists in Gaza and abroad are calling for immediate international action to help residents stay connected. Many are urging support for the purchase of international SIM cards and mobile internet packages. 'With the repeated communication blackouts, it's become essential to help Gazans stay connected to the world,' said one of activists. 'They must be able to document their suffering and speak for themselves, especially when the world's attention is elsewhere.' As Israeli attacks continue across the territory and access to food, medicines, and other essentials remains uncertain, many in Gaza fear that the blackout is more than a communications failure, it is a strategy to cut off their voice at a time when visibility could mean survival.
The National
2 days ago
- Business
- The National
Internet cut affects Google Cloud, AWS and other services
An internet blackout affecting websites using Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, among others, is causing problems around the world. DownDetector, which reports global internet issues, showed that the cut was affecting Spotify, Discord, Snapchat and other brands. "Multiple Google Cloud Platform products are experiencing impact due to identity and access management service issue," read a post on the Google Cloud service health page. The number of services affected is vast and actively expanding as of the time of writing. "This is a Google Cloud outage," a spokesperson for Cloudflare said in a brief email to The National. "A limited number of services at Cloudflare that use Google Cloud were impacted and we expect them to come back online shortly," she added. As can be expected, even amid the problem, there was ample speculation about the sheer volume of the outage. "Google Cloud Platform outage and Cloudflare major outage at the same time. Never seen this before," Substack technology newsletter writer Gergely Orosz wrote on X. Whatever the cause, the issue has not yet been resolved. Though rare, similar cuts in the past have resulted in billions of dollars lost due to the down-time and lack of commerce.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
UN says full internet blackout in Gaza, paralyzing aid operations
June 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday that there was a full internet blackout in the Gaza Strip, likely due to military activity damaging the last cable into the enclave, that has paralyzed aid operations. "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,' deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters. "In a context already limited by physical access restrictions and widespread damage, emergency services are cut off, and civilians cannot access life-saving support," Haq said.
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Gaza offline after fibre optic link severed amid Israeli bombardment
Gaza plunged into a complete internet blackout on Thursday after the last main fibre optic cable connecting the enclave was severed during Israeli bombardment. The territory's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said all of Gaza's internet and landline communications were cut off after attacks on vital infrastructure networks, official Palestinian media reported. Internet watchdog NetBlocks said its data showed disruption to internet connectivity across Gaza, which was likely to affect search, rescue and aid efforts. The regulatory authority blamed "the systematic targeting of communications infrastructure, despite numerous previous attempts to repair several severed links", the official Wafa news agency said. Gaza city and the northern Gaza Strip had been struggling with internet cuts for two days but the latest blackout has isolated the entire enclave, preventing Palestinians from accessing essential services, Wafa added. The regulatory authority called on the international community to intervene to ensure access for technical crews to safely carry out infrastructure repairs. It said Israel was preventing such teams from fixing cables and was obstructing access to back-up and alternative network routes. Repeated efforts over several months to reach and repair network connections have been consistently blocked by Israel, the authority said. On Wednesday, civil defence authorities in northern Gaza said internet blackouts were hindering efforts to identify and reach sites bombed by the Israeli military. 'We are facing extreme difficulty in locating bombing sites due to signal outages and the inability of residents to contact us,' they said. Several media organisations have apologised for an inability to cover the news in the territory, citing the lack of internet access and difficulty in making phone calls. Some citizens have been relying on eSIM connections but these can require great effort to secure a signal such as by climbing to higher ground or moving closer to the eastern border of Gaza near Israel. Since the start of the war, telecoms and internet networks in the enclave have suffered continuous disruption due to Israeli attacks or depletion of fuel used to operate electricity generators.
