UAE to provide satellite internet to field hospital in Gaza Strip

By Mohammed Ragawi

ISTANBUL (AA) - The United Arab Emirates has said it is working to provide SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband at its field hospital in the Rafah city in northern Gaza Strip.

Abu Dhabi is working "in partnership with various international and regional organizations and hospitals to introduce SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband at its field hospital in the Gaza Strip," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

This initiative aims "to enable potentially life-saving medical consultations via real-time video calling," it added.

The statement highlighted "the importance of reliable high-speed internet in ensuring quality medical care by hospitals serving Palestinians within the Gaza Strip."

It also "reaffirmed the importance of the immediate, safe, sustainable, and unhindered delivery of relief and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip."

International warnings are escalating regarding the Israeli bombardment of the city of Rafah, amid preparations for a ground invasion.

The danger looms over hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals who have sought refuge there.

Since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,500 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio