The Israeli government has approved the use of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet services in both Israel and parts of the Gaza Strip, the communications minister has announced, AFP reports.

Under the deal, Starlink will support internet access at an Emirati-run field hospital in Gaza’s far-southern city Rafah, with further expansion in the besieged territory subject to Israeli approval.

Starlink’s network of low Earth orbit satellites can provide internet to remote locations, or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled.

“Starlink low latency high-speed connections will enable video conferencing with other hospitals and real-time remote diagnostics,” Israeli Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The units in the Gaza Strip for the purposes of humanitarian aid” will depend on Israeli security clearance, Karhi said.

Access to reliable, high-speed internet will “enable potentially life-saving medical consultations via real-time video calling,” UAE Foreign Ministry spokesperson Afra Al Hameli said on social media, welcoming the deal.

Musk wrote on his social media platform X that he “greatly appreciated” Israel’s move, and hoped it would help both Israelis and “innocent civilians in Gaza”.