'Cut off from the world': Gaza suffers internet outages as Israeli missiles rain down

Gaza is facing major internet outages as connectivity continues to dip amid relentless Israeli bombardment, which has so far killed over 1,750 Palestinians, including 500 children and wounded more than 6,300 people.

Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip are under a complete siege, cut off from supplies of fuel, food, water, medical provisions, and electricity, and a near-complete communications blackout.

Access Now, an NGO that defends digital civil rights, warned on Friday that the total blockage no in place in the impoverished enclave will only "exacerbate the situation" and may result in "more atrocities for those plunged under the darkness of a communication blackout".

"The Gaza Strip is being cut off from the world," Marwa Fatafta, MENA policy and advocacy manager at Access Now said.

"Access Now demands the immediate restoration of internet access for the people of Gaza, who have already long endured horrifying conditions in what is described as the world's largest open-air prison, and who have little to no means of escape as the violence escalates."

Data from the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) observatory showed a substantial connectivity drop when the first Israeli strikes rained down the Gaza Strip on Sunday following the attack by Hamas.

As of Friday, IODA data shows internet connectivity in Gaza continuing to drop with the signal falling to just 20 percent.

Among the many civilian buildings destroyed by the Israeli bombardment on Gaza are those containing offices and infrastructure for the two main telecommunication providers (Paltel and Jawwal) and media offices in Watan Tower.

Meanwhile, damages to internet service provider and phone infrastructure also caused widespread outages for both fixed-line internet, mobile data and phone lines.

The disruptions leave Palestinians in Gaza without secured channels of communication for people to share life-saving information as Israeli forces prepare for a ground invasion.

Access Now slammed Israel's complete siege and deliberate targetting of critical civilian infrastructure, including telecommunications, saying the move amounted to "collective punishment [...] forbidden by customary international humanitarian law, [including that related to] military occupation."