Palestine Telecommunications Company says widespread outage of internet and landline services in Gaza

The Palestine Telecommunications Company said on Wednesday morning there was a widespread outage of fixed internet and landline services in Gaza and North Gaza governorates, caused by extensive damage to infrastructure from the ongoing Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The company said direct strikes on several main routes supplying the two areas have led to a complete suspension of services across wide areas, noting that its technical crews are working around the clock to repair faults and restore service to residents, despite extremely dangerous field conditions and the difficulty of reaching fault sites because of continuous bombardment.

Palestine Telecommunications said its priority at this stage is to ensure that vital institutions, hospitals and ambulance centres are reconnected to the network, given the urgent need for communications to enable the work of medical and humanitarian teams.

The outage comes as the Gaza Strip is experiencing an unprecedented deterioration in basic services amid an ongoing blockade and continuous strikes, further increasing the suffering of hundreds of thousands of residents who have become isolated from the outside world.