Terrified Gaza residents try to reconnect as communications return

Palestinians traumatized by Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in a bid to destroy Hamas were struggling to make contact with family and friends on Sunday.

Telephone and internet communications were returning gradually to Gaza, several Palestinian media outlets said.

Israeli forces waged ground operations in Gaza in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the second phase of a three-week-old war aimed at crushing Hamas.

Gaza’s besieged residents faced a near-total communications and Internet blackout as Israel’s warplanes dropped bombs and its troops and armour pushed into the Hamas-ruled enclave, as Israeli military chiefs signalled they were gearing up for an expanded ground offensive.

Elon Musk said on Saturday that SpaceX’s Starlink will support communication links in Gaza with “internationally recognized aid organizations”.

Musk said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was not clear who has authority for ground links in Gaza, but we do know that “no terminal has requested a connection in that area”.

International humanitarian organizations said the blackout, which began on Friday evening, was worsening an already desperate situation by impeding life-saving operations and preventing them from contacting their staff on the ground.