RAFAH: Power cuts have become a fact of life in Gaza. But thanks to embedded SIM cards, Palestinians can still access the internet and stay in touch with loved ones abroad.

“Without them, we’d be cut off from the world,” said Hani Al Shaer, a journalist who depends on eSIM cards to do his live streams.

“And no one would know what was happening in Gaza,” he added, just as the besieged territory experienced the latest in a series of telecoms breakdowns since the conflict began on Oct 7.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has led a massive air and ground campaign against the Palestinian groups in retaliation.

Human Rights Watch has warned that phone and internet disruptions in Gaza could “provide cover for atrocities and breed impunity while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk”.

Simple idea

Internet and telephone services that were cut on Tuesday were gradually being restored in central and southern areas of Gaza, the Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said on X.

The idea behind the eSIM is simple: they are a software version of the chips usually inserted into phones to connect to cellular networks and the internet.

Embedded directly into a device, they can be activated using a QR code, which Gaza residents receive from family members living abroad.

The Gaza residents are then able to connect in roaming mode to a foreign network — often an Israeli one or sometimes Egyptian.

The eSIM has been a godsend, said Samar Labad.

The 38-year-old fled her home in Gaza City for the south, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been living in makeshift camps.

Now in Rafah, she had lost contact with her family for over a week. But then her brother, who lives in Belgium, sent her an eSIM.

“The connection is not stable, but it does the trick,” she said. “At least we can stay in touch to reassure each other, even if intermittently.”

She also has loved ones in Khan Yunis.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2023