Elon Musk's Starlink now operational in Gaza hospital with cooperation from Israel and UAE

Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite internet service, began operating in a hospital in the Gaza Strip, Musk announced on his X account. According to him, the operation of the service was done with the support of Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

In February, the Ministry of Communications approved Starlink to operate in Israel, aiming to provide government bodies, local authorities, and emergency teams with broadband capabilities in case of malfunctions in the wired or cellular network. Simultaneously, the ministry and the company reached agreements for Starlink to enter the Gaza Strip, with security officials approving the introduction of one land unit of the service to a field hospital set up by the United Arab Emirates in Rafah. Although Musk did not refer to this explicitly in his announcement, it seems he is referring to the same hospital in Rafah that was mentioned by the Communications Ministry, and that the service has only just started operating there.

The first Starlink satellites were launched into space in 2019 and are launched almost every week. Today, Musk has more than 5,000 active internet satellites in orbit around the Earth, comprising more than 50% of all satellites, providing satellite connections to about 60 countries. One of the prominent uses of the system is in conflict zones, as it has proven its durability and usefulness in combat scenarios, such as the Russia-Ukraine war. In June, it was revealed in Calcalist that Israel is planning to use Starlink as a backup to the network during wartime.