[summary]SpaceX has begun offering Starlink internet service at a hospital in the
Gaza Strip thanks to the support of the United Arab Emirates and Israel,
Elon Musk announced on X on Tuesday night. It took more than five months
to get permission from the Israeli government to provide service in an
area where many medical...

The post Starlink Internet Service Is “Now Active” For Supporting The
UAE Field Hospital In Gaza appeared first on Orbital Today.

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SpaceX has begun offering Starlink internet service at a hospital in the Gaza Strip thanks to the support of the United Arab Emirates and Israel, Elon Musk announced on X on Tuesday night. It took more than five months to get permission from the Israeli government to provide service in an area where many medical facilities have been destroyed by war.

Starlink is now active in a Gaza hospital with the support of @UAEmediaoffice and @Israel — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2024

Agreement Details

In February this year, Israel’s communications ministry and Elon Musk’s company agreed on a series of measures to allow the use of the Starlink broadband internet service in the United Arab Emirates field hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. An essential demand from the Israeli side was that the service be used exclusively for humanitarian purposes and severely restricted for Hamas, which is recognised as a terrorist organisation in the US and the European Union.

As part of the approval, endorsed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi in February, Starlink will also be available in Israel, allowing Israelis to access broadband services during terrestrial outages.

Arab Emirates Reaction

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in a post on X, thanked the billionaire entrepreneur for supporting the UAE field hospital in Gaza, where many medical facilities have been destroyed in more than nine months of war.

Thanks @elonmusk for supporting the #Gaza #UAE field hospital https://t.co/aBPtKPJeCf — عبدالله بن زايد (@ABZayed) July 23, 2024

Musk, in turn, responded with a message in Arabic that translates into English as “No thanks needed when doing my duty.”

Hospital Establishment

Space X’s CEO first proposed Starlink for humanitarian organisations in Gaza in October, weeks after the Hamas attack in southern Israel. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem late last year to get approval to use Starlink. The move drew sharp criticism from Israel over fears that Hamas could exploit it.

The field hospital was established in December on the orders of Sheikh Mohamed to help ease the significant strain on Gaza’s healthcare system and provide essential support to civilians caught in the crossfire. More than 48,700 injured Palestinians have been treated, and 1,773 surgeries have been performed since it became operational.

The hospital’s director, Dr Sultan Al Kaabi, said the Starlink service will enable real-time online medical consultations with patients. “We have added the service to cooperate with Emirati hospitals and specialists from different countries,” he said. “We get consultations for certain cases for which we don’t have specialisation here in Gaza to ensure the best treatment.”

The Situation With The Internet In Gaza Before

Gazans rely heavily on the Internet to communicate with each other and with non-governmental organisations. According to a local expert, Internet access dropped by 80-90 per cent in the weeks following the outbreak of the war.

Internet connectivity in Gaza is inferior due to the lack of electricity and fuel to run service provider centres due to Israel’s brutal offensive and siege of the enclave since 7 October. There have been repeated power cuts in the enclave since the war began. This has hampered the work of medical personnel and rescue teams and limited the work of hospitals and the Ministry of Health’s centralised system.

Where Is Starlink Internet Available Around The World?

According to a map on the Starlink website, Starlink satellite internet is officially available in most countries in Europe, North and South America, and other parts of the world, such as Japan, Nigeria, and Australia. However, the map of countries with service availability does not include any countries in the Middle East.

Starlink, which uses thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit to provide Internet access, is popular in many conflict zones.

A journalistic investigation in March this year revealed widespread examples of equipment being traded and activated illegally or without government authorisation in countries such as Yemen and Sudan.

The initiative in Gaza was announced as SpaceX is seeking an official distributor to operate a satellite internet service in Sudan. Volunteers and health workers have used Starlink to provide aid during the civil war that began last April. Humanitarian groups have urged Starlink to maintain its work in the country amid a nationwide internet outage that has hampered relief efforts.

Background

The Gaza war was sparked by a Hamas attack in southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage. In response, Israel launched an air and ground offensive and a blockade that has killed more than 39,000 people in the Hamas-run sector, according to health officials.

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