The CEO of SpaceX declared that “internationally recognised aid organisations” will be welcome to use his satellite internet network.
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has declared that he will use his Starlink network to give “internationally recognised aid organisations” in Gaza access to satellite internet. Following a massive Israeli bombing on Friday, the enclave’s phone and internet cables went down.
Musk announced that SpaceX’s Starlink business would “support connectivity” with the beleaguered strip on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.
Although there appear to be several Starlink terminals in Gaza, Musk said in a different post on Saturday that not one of these devices has made an effort to get in touch with the satellite network. He posted on X, “Do we know that no terminal has requested a connection in that area? It is unclear who has authority for ground links in Gaza.”
Following a series of Israeli airstrikes on Friday night, internet and mobile phone connections were disrupted in Gaza. Prior to the arrival of Israeli ground forces in the enclave, Paltel, the biggest telecom provider in Gaza, declared that the bombing had completely devastated its infrastructure.
According to the business, “all remaining international routes linking Gaza to the outside world were destroyed due to the intense bombing in the last hour.”
READ ALSO: Starlink from SpaceX is awarded a Pentagon contract for satellite services for Ukraine
News organisations and relief organisations were unable to get in touch with their staff due to the outage; Doctors Without Borders and the UN children’s agency both reported that none of their staff had gotten in touch. Additionally, RT Arabic was momentarily unable to get in touch with its photographers and correspondents in Gaza.
With this declaration, Musk has sent Starlink into a battle zone for the second time. Not long after Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine, the tech billionaire declared that he would provide Starlink terminals to the Ukrainian side and cover the cost of maintenance. But when he forbade the Ukrainian military from using the network to direct drone attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea, he lost the support of Kiev.
Last month, he said, “If I had granted their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” Since then, a deal to lease Starlink satellites for military usage has been announced by the Pentagon.
