Gaza Strip Hit by Power Cuts and Infrastructure Damage, Severely Impacting Internet Access

Severe power cuts and infrastructure damage in the Gaza Strip have resulted in a significant impact on internet access for its residents, according to reports from organizations monitoring online connectivity. The situation arose after Hamas launched an attack on Israel over the weekend. NetBlocks, a company that tracks internet censorship, stated that as of Monday, eight of the primary internet service providers in Gaza had either minimal or no connectivity. Isik Mater, the director of research at NetBlocks, noted that although some connections were intermittent, most were in poor condition. Cloudflare, a San Francisco-based internet connectivity company, reported that traffic at several networks serving Gaza experienced outages following Israel’s imposition of a blockade, which included cutting off electricity supply. Fusion, a leading internet provider for Palestinians, posted on Facebook that infrastructure damage resulting from bombings had caused service delays. While the official Hamas website faced connectivity difficulties after a hacktivist group announced a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, the Cyber Defense Agency of Israel confirmed that no significant cyberattacks had been launched against the country since the conflict began. However, various hacktivist groups have claimed responsibility for a series of DDoS attacks, which aim to overwhelm websites and render them slow or inaccessible. As this conflict unfolds, it remains to be seen if cyber warfare will play a more significant role.