How Gazans are dealing with internet crisis
The electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip is causing internet providers to cut off service, and Gazans fear a chronic internet crisis is coming.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The internet has become the only outlet for Gazans to escape the concerns and problems resulting from the ongoing Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007.
However, Gaza has been barely getting any internet service due to increased power cuts that are leaving the citizens without electricity for 20 hours a day. On June 19, Israel reduced the electricity coming through the Israeli supply lines to Gaza from 120 megawatts (MW) to 48 MW, in response to a request from Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority.
Internet service is an important commodity for Gazans, as they cannot travel abroad due to the continued closure of the Rafah crossing.
Unemployed Gazan youth search for freelance work online in light of the growing unemployment rate, which reached 41.2% in the Gaza Strip, according to official statistics issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics published in July 2016.
