Elon Musk has vowed to help humanitarian organizations stay connected amid an information blackout in Gaza.
After telephone and internet lines went down in Gaza following a heavy Israeli bombardment on Friday, the tech billionaire said he would provide satellite internet access to “internationally recognized aid organizations” via his Starlink network.
However, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Kahri responded saying that “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight” Musk’s planned provision of internet access to Gaza.
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Kahri claimed: “Hamas will use it for terrorist activities, there is no doubt about it, we know it, and Musk knows it.”
RT reported: In response, the tech billionaire said he is “not so naive,” explaining how the proposed scheme would work, while promising to “do a security check with both the US and Israeli governments before turning on even a single terminal.”
“Per my post, no Starlink terminal has attempted to connect from Gaza. If one does, we will take extraordinary measures to confirm that it is used *only* for purely humanitarian reasons,” Musk said.
Earlier on Saturday, Musk said that he would open the Starlink satellite network to “internationally recognized aid organizations” working in Gaza, after a wave of Israeli airstrikes severed the enclave’s last phone and internet connections with the outside world.
Internet and cell phone services stopped working in Gaza on Friday night after a wave of Israeli airstrikes. The outage left news organizations and aid groups unable to reach their workers, with the UN children’s agency (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, and Red Crescent all reporting no contact from their employees. RT Arabic was also temporarily unable to contact its correspondents and photographers in Gaza.
