Gaza connectivity ‘being restored’: Internet monitor Netblocks

An antenna of a communications tower that relays phone and internet signals is pictured in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 28, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)

JERUSALEM: Internet connectivity in the Gaza Strip is being restored, the global network monitor Netblocks said Sunday, almost two days after it was cut off during heavy Israeli bombardment.
“Real-time network data show that Internet connectivity is being restored in the #Gaza Strip,” the company wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
An AFP employee in Gaza City said shortly after 4am (0200 GMT) that he could use the Internet and had managed to contact people in southern Gaza by phone.
Internet and phone access had been cut off across Gaza since Friday, as Israel bombarded the territory.
Israel unleashed a massive bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Since then, relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, half of them children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Saturday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communications blackout had blocked emergency calls and disrupted critical ambulance services.