Cell phones and the internet are not working in Gaza because there is not enough fuel to run the backup generators, according to Palestinian telecom companies.
Paltel and Jawwal telecom companies said they ran out of energy for their networks, and an internet monitor confirmed a big internet problem.
Israel stopped almost all fuel deliveries to Gaza during its war with Hamas that started five weeks ago. Only one delivery was allowed to go through.
The UN said a power outage could cause chaos and make it harder to help people in need.
“We are sorry to say that the phone and internet services in Gaza Strip are not working because the power that runs the network has run out, and they would not let more fuel in,” Paltel said in a statement on Thursday.
At the same time, the internet monitoring group NetBlocks said that live data showed Gaza was experiencing a big internet problem. Most people probably won’t have access to phone or internet services.
Israel started a big war in the Gaza Strip to destroy a group called Hamas, which it thinks is a bad group, because of an attack by many gunmen on October 7th. Hamas attacked Israel and killed over 1,200 people, and also took about 240 people as hostages.
Ever since Israel began attacking, the health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, has reported that 11,000 people have been killed. The United Nations has also warned that there could be a “humanitarian disaster” in the area.
The Israeli government stopped sending fuel because they are worried that Hamas might take it and use it for fighting.
On Wednesday, a truck with 23,000 liters of diesel fuel came from Egypt. But Israel said it could only be used to fill up UN aid trucks.
Other important services have also closed because of the same problems. This means places like hospitals, water pumps, plants that turn saltwater into drinking water, places that clean dirty water, and places that make bread.
The BBC’s Rushdi Abu Alouf, who is in the southern city of Khan Younis, said that all phone and internet services in Gaza were not working on Thursday night.
He said it would be really hard to find out what was happening in other places like Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where Israeli forces were doing an operation for the second day.
Our reporter has not been able to communicate again since then.
The person in charge of the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, is worried that the power outage in Gaza could make things worse and cause more problems in the community.
These signs show when you suddenly cannot talk to anyone anymore because of a blackout. “The UN leader, Philippe Lazzarini, said that it makes people even more anxious and panicked,” at a news conference in Geneva.
“This could cause more trouble or speed up the end of the last bit of peace in the Gaza Strip. ” And if this completely falls apart, we will have trouble working in a place without some order.
Human Rights Watch said that if there is no communication for a long time, it could make it easier for bad things to happen and allow people to get away with doing bad things. It could also make it harder to help people and put their lives in danger.
Mr Lazzarini also said that he thought someone was trying to stop or slow down Unrwa’s work in Gaza. He cautioned that the agency might have to completely stop its operations if it ran out of fuel.
Unrwa is taking care of 813,000 people who don’t have a place to live. They need 160,000 litres of fuel every day to keep things running.
“If we don’t get more fuel, people will die,” Mr.
I don’t know when it started. “It will happen soon. “