#KeepItOn: Israel must stop cutting Gaza off from the world

We, the undersigned civil society organizations and members of the #KeepItOn coalition — a global network of over 345 human rights organizations from 105 countries working to end internet shutdowns — urgently call on Israeli authorities and all relevant actors to restore full access to internet and communication services in the Gaza Strip, immediately halt the targeting of telecommunications infrastructure, and uphold their obligations under international law. 

As Israel continues its unlawful blockade, Gaza is on the brink of total disconnection, with Palestinian telecommunications providers estimated to run out of fuel within a week. We demand that fuel supplies are urgently and immediately allowed into the Gaza Strip to prevent the imminent and total collapse of internet and communication services, exacerbating the unspeakable suffering of over two million people amid an unfolding genocide.

On June 17, 2025, large parts of central and southern Gaza were plunged into a communications blackout after a fibre-optic internet data cable was cut along the coastal Al-Rasheed street. This disruption came just one day after connectivity had been partially restored after another blackout impacted the same areas on June 16, due to a reported fibre cut along the Khan Yunis route.

These incidents came just days after a third near-total blackout beginning on June 11 due to a deliberate Israeli air strike on Gaza’s main fibre cable. This lasted more than two days and six hours. Connectivity was partially restored across Gaza on June 14 following humanitarian appeals to grant safe access for Palestinian crews to carry out necessary repairs.

The latest blackout marks at least the 23rd shutdown in Gaza since October 2023, according to the most conservative estimate. Blackouts in Gaza form part of a disturbing pattern in which connectivity is cut during periods of intensified military attacks, severely hindering rescue efforts, media coverage, and the delivery of critical aid and food. Recurring shutdowns underscore the concerning global trend of normalizing the weaponization and targeting of civilian connectivity as a means and method of warfare. Each time the internet is cut, the people of Gaza are plunged into a communication vacuum, unable to call ambulances, report attacks, receive alerts, or communicate with their loved ones.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has waged a brutal and sustained military campaign in Gaza, killing more than 55,000 Palestinians and reducing much of the Gaza Strip to rubble. Alongside these devastating attacks, Israeli authorities have systematically disrupted Gaza’s internet and telecommunications services, plunging Gaza into prolonged moments of complete disconnectedness. Israeli forces have directly bombed or severely damaged critical telecommunications infrastructure as well as repair crews, while on mission to restore access. The fuel blockade exerts even more pressure on Gaza’s remaining internet service providers, repeatedly rendering backup generators useless and making it impossible to sustain operations. While currently made even more ruthless and visible by the intensity of the ongoing military activities, Israel’s control over Gaza’s connectivity is long-standing. The territory is denied access to 4G or 5G technology with heavy restrictions on infrastructure imports. These restrictions are part of a broader digital siege that predates the war and has only intensified since October. 

Connectivity is essential in times of conflict. Civilians rely on mobile networks and the internet to receive emergency updates and financial assistance, locate food and shelter, and check on their loved ones, as well as to contact ambulances and civil defense crews. Journalists depend on them to document and report on atrocities. Humanitarian agencies use them to coordinate and deliver life-saving relief to those in need. When Gaza goes dark, a critical lifeline for over two million people is severed. In response, many have turned to alternatives such as eSIMs, which have become vital tools to maintain some form of connectivity under siege. 

As we’ve repeatedly warned, disrupting internet access and deliberately targeting critical civilian telecommunications infrastructure as a collective punishment or retaliation is forbidden by customary international humanitarian law and international humanitarian law regulating military occupation. Furthermore, intentionally disrupting humanitarian actors’ ability to communicate for operational purposes is prohibited, and any attacks against ICT infrastructure used by humanitarian actors may also constitute war crimes. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has specifically noted that the communication blackouts in Gaza, “including through the blockade of fuel and electricity essential for the operation of communication and internet providers, coupled with the extensive destruction of communications infrastructure upon which large numbers of civilians are dependent, can scarcely be reconciled with the cumulative tests under IHL of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.”

In addition to breaching key tenets of international humanitarian law and the law of occupation, internet shutdowns also violate fundamental rights protected under international and regional law. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees the rights to freedom of expression and access to information. In its General Comment No. 34, the UN Human Rights Committee emphasizes that any restriction on these rights must pass strict tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality that blanket shutdowns, infrastructure attacks, and deliberate signal interference clearly fail to meet.

Multiple UN Special Rapporteurs have condemned the use of internet shutdowns in conflict zones as unlawful, disproportionate, and harmful, particularly when used to obscure human rights abuses and limit access to life-saving information. Shutdowns also undermine humanitarian operations and violate the principle of civilian protection in times of war.

Companies and internet service providers (ISPs) operating in Gaza, including Paltel, Jawwal, and others, have been struggling, and mostly failing, to meet their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). While their operations remain severely restricted due to Israel’s ongoing blockade on the Gaza Strip, they must take extra care to prevent complicity in human rights violations, to mitigate the impact of disruptions on vulnerable communities, and ensure the protection of their staff and repair crews.

As a communications blackout looms in the Gaza Strip, we call for an urgent and immediate action to ensure full restoration of telecommunications and internet services.

• The Israeli government must immediately stop targeting Gaza’s civilian telecommunications infrastructure, ensure full and sustained restoration of internet and mobile services across the Gaza Strip at all times, and lift the blockade on fuel and equipment necessary for maintaining telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza;
• Paltel, Jawwal, and all mobile operators must publicly document and report shutdowns and damage, while being supported and protected in restoring and maintaining services;
• All stakeholders must ensure that alternative, reliable, and safe means of communication are available to people wherever possible; 
• All actors mandated to protect civilians must actively engage all parties to the conflict to ensure that Gaza’s civilian telecommunications infrastructure is protected; and
• International bodies and the UN must condemn and investigate the weaponization of telecommunications blackouts in Gaza, as part of broader accountability mechanisms.

Signatories