Elon Musk’s Starlink wins license for parts of Israel, Gaza

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Elon Musk’s Starlink wins license for parts of Israel, Gaza

Israel will use this service for emergency backup communications.

Elon Musk’s Starlink won a license to operate in Israel and parts of the Gaza Strip after agreeing to a series of measures to block Hamas from accessing its satellite internet services.

The Israeli Communications Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the service will be available to some officials in Israel and that the government has approved it for use at a UAE-run field hospital in southern Gaza.

Starlink, which will begin selling terminals through an Israeli subsidiary in the coming weeks, will initially limit sales to a list of approved customers in Israel that includes local councils and government bodies.

“Units in the Gaza Strip to support humanitarian causes will be approved individually, only after Israeli security forces confirm it is an authorized unit that poses a threat to national security,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said in the statement. There will be no worry or possibility of putting.”

Starlink’s services are increasingly being used in conflict zones to provide Internet in areas where infrastructure, including military units, has been destroyed. A few months after Russia’s invasion, Musk activated satellite service in Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence has said that Russian forces are now using Starlink terminals on the frontlines.

Israel will use the service for emergency backup communications, but requires assurances from its parent, SpaceX, that Hamas – the group that controls Gaza and is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and EU – will not use it. Will be able to do.

The UAE will partner with international and regional organizations to launch the service at its Gaza field hospital, a spokesperson for the country’s Foreign Ministry told X.

The war between Israel and Hamas began with attacks on October 7, when Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostage. More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza, according to Hamas health officials.

Musk has been eager to show off his alliance with Israel in recent months, visiting the country in November and visiting some of the massacre sites in the southern part of the country. The billionaire has been criticized for promoting anti-Semitic content on his social platform X and allowing hate speech to flourish on the site formerly known as Twitter.

Musk had previously suggested he might open Starlink service to aid groups in Gaza, but backed off after facing a furious response from Israeli officials.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)