Gaza telecommunications firms announce complete blackout amid fuel scarcity

Telecommunication companies in Gaza announced a complete blackout of their services Thursday due to dwindling fuel supply, marking the latest development in an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the region.

Jawwal and Paltel, two Palestinian telecommunications providers, announced Thursday that all telecom services in the Gaza Strip have gone out of service because the energy sources fueling the networks have been “depleted.” They both cited the prevention of fuel into Gaza as reason for the blackout.

There have been previous blackouts in Gaza since the war started. Israel cut off Internet access in the territory during its escalation of ground attacks in Gaza last month, and telecommunications also went down earlier this month.

Human Rights Watch also warned Wednesday that the decision to bar fuel deliveries would lead to a complete blackout of telecommunications, which the group said could undermine aid efforts in Gaza.

“Intentional, blanket shutdowns or restrictions on access to the internet violate multiple rights and can be deadly during crises,” Deborah Brown, senior technology researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Prolonged and complete communications blackouts, like those experienced in Gaza, can provide cover for atrocities and breed impunity while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk.”

Israel only allowed a small amount of fuel to enter Wednesday — the first to enter Gaza since the war started.

This comes after weeks of warnings from humanitarian groups that Gaza was expected to run out of fuel, which powered generators in hospitals and other basic necessities in the territory. Food, water and electricity have already been scarce in the Gaza Strip, where the World Health Organization and other humanitarian groups have warned of a rapid spread of disease due to the lack of supplies.

More than 1.5 million residents in Gaza have been internally displaced due to the war, which was prompted by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead. Israel Defense Forces also ordered evacuations of southern Gaza earlier Thursday, signaling they may be expanding operations into an area where thousands of Palestinians already fled to.

More than 11,200 Palestinians, including thousands of children and women, have died since the fighting broke out, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The Associated Press contributed.