These workers risk their lives to restore Gaza’s telephone network

As Mohammed Sweirky prepared to go on a business trip in January to repair telecommunications infrastructure destroyed in northern Gaza, his wife and children begged him not to go.

Fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas members was still raging in the area, said Mr. Sweirky, a technician for Paltel, the largest telecommunications company in Gaza, and his family feared he might not return. But he said he felt he had no choice as residents there desperately needed their phone services restored.

“It was painful to say goodbye,” said Mr. Sweirky, 50, who fled Gaza City at the start of the war and is now sheltering with six relatives in a garage in Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city. “They were crying, but I couldn’t give up our mission.”

Since the war began, Mr. Sweirky’s job has become one of the most dangerous in Gaza, and one of the most important. Israel’s bombing campaign against Hamas has ravaged Gaza’s telecommunications infrastructure, destroying underground fiber optic cables, damaging data centers and blowing up transmission towers.

Since the start of the war, about 50 engineers and technicians at Paltel, one of two Palestinian mobile service providers in Gaza, have crisscrossed the enclave to restore service to neighborhoods that have been electrified for days or even weeks.

Paltel – which depends on three telecommunications lines running through Israel – manages Gaza’s infrastructure. Trying to repair that infrastructure has posed enormous risks for Paltel’s technicians, who often have to work near battles and who say they are also under fire.

At least two Paltel employees were killed on the job, according to the company and the Palestinian Authority’s Telecommunications Ministry. A total of 16 people have been killed since the war began, Paltel said.

Power outages across Gaza have severely hampered Palestinians’ ability to call for help, report on unfolding events, coordinate relief efforts, and communicate with friends and family abroad. Calls routinely go straight to voicemail and when they do connect, the connection is often weak.

Some Palestinians in Gaza have found ways to get around the power outages by using cards compatible with Israeli or Egyptian networks and connecting to a backup infrastructure known as a microwave link.

“During a war, the difference between life and death can be one phone call,” said Tariq Bakhit, 33, a medical worker. “We can hardly do anything without the ability to communicate.”

An executive from Paltel and the Palestinian Authority’s telecommunications ministry blamed most of the poor connectivity on airstrikes and bulldozed roads, causing damage to surface and underground infrastructure.

But the executive, Mamoon Fares, the head of Paltel’s Gaza Emergency Committee, said Israel had also cut communications in Gaza three times. He said Paltel came to that conclusion because the network was later restored on those occasions without his intervention. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Mr Fares said dozens of kilometers of Paltel’s fiber optic cables were destroyed, two of its four major data centers were knocked offline and more than 100 of its transmission towers were destroyed in the fighting.

Before Paltel employees enter Israeli-controlled areas, the company says it sends technicians’ names, ID numbers and license plate information to international organizations or Palestinian officials, who pass the information on to Israeli security officials. After receiving permission from Israel to begin a project, workers follow instructions from Israeli officials, including specific routes they plot on maps, the company said.

But there have still been several close calls and one fatal incident, according to Paltel.

In mid-December, members of a Paltel team found themselves in the middle of the fighting. They were trying to reconnect a cable that had been submerged in a water-filled crater in the southern city of Khan Younis when clashes broke out between the Israeli army and militants, said Kamel Amsy, 52, an engineer on the team. Overwhelmed with fear, they lay flat on the ground as bullets flew overhead.

“The tanks in the area went crazy,” he said. “The situation was terrifying.”

When Mr. Fares called Palestinian officials to ask them to inform their Israeli counterparts that his employees were in the line of fire according to established protocol, the Israelis told the technicians to remain seated, the Paltel executive recalled.

Half an hour later, a soldier emerged from a tank and told technicians to evacuate east, but their cars could not drive through the crater, Mr. Amsy said. Worried for their lives, they drove west until they escaped the fighting, he said.

The next day, technicians completed the job, which aimed to restore connectivity to southern Gaza after a multi-day power outage.

When later asked about the event, the Israeli military said it had allowed Paltel technicians to work in the area but later told them not to come due to “operational activity” there. It said the military was not aware of tank fire directed at the technicians, who it said were not targeted.

In another incident in December, Nader Abu Hajjaj, 49, a technician from Khan Younis, was repairing cables and replacing batteries in a building in his hometown when he said it had been hit by airstrikes. “It was a disaster,” Mr. Abu Hajjaj said during an interview in January. “We coordinated our movements, but they still shot at us.”

The Israeli military said it targeted an anti-tank launch position on the roof of the building and ceased fire as soon as it was informed that Paltel operatives were present.

Two weeks later, Mr. Abu Hajjaj was less fortunate. While returning from a project in Khan Younis, his car was hit by tank fire, killing him and Bahaa al-Rayes, his colleague, Paltel said. Mr Fares said a worker who was injured during the episode reported it was caused by opening a tank.

The Israeli military said it is investigating the incident. COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for contacts with the Palestinians, confirmed that Paltel had coordinated the movements of Mr Abu Hajjaj and Mr Rayes.

While Paltel still does not know the exact extent of the damage to its assets in Gaza, Mr. Fares said 80 percent of its network was offline, including a significant portion that needed to be replaced. He predicted that it would take years to repair the entire network and that repairs would depend on the pace of the broader reconstruction process.

A major challenge in rebuilding the network, Mr. Fares said, was Israel’s blocking of equipment in Gaza, such as antennas, fiber optic cables and microwave dishes.

Eyhab Esbaih, a senior official at the Telecommunications Ministry, said talks continued with Israel through international interlocutors about bringing equipment to Gaza. Like Mr. Fares, he said Israel has not yet allowed such items.

COGAT said it allowed the entry into Gaza of spare parts for communications infrastructure, but declined to specify what was allowed. Israeli officials have long been reluctant to allow it what they consider dual-use items to Gaza – equipment that can be used for both military and civilian purposes.

Technicians say they are also frustrated by clashes with Israeli forces. In December, Mr. Amsy and Mr. Sweirky said they and several technicians were held at gunpoint during a trip to northern Gaza to repair damaged cables.

Mr Amsy said soldiers blindfolded him and tied his wrists before accusing him and other technicians of taking images of the area. He said they were only released after he convinced them they were on an Army-sanctioned repair mission.

“It was incredibly humiliating,” Mr Amsy said. “You try to do your job, but you don’t get any respect.”

When asked about the event, the Israeli military did not comment specifically on Mr. Amsy, nor did it confirm the incident. Instead, it said all detainees “must be treated with respect and dignity.”

After being released, most engineers wanted to abandon the project, but Mr. Amsy said they should do everything possible to improve communications in the north and continued.

But as they got close to their destination, a tank started firing nearby, they said. “It was then that we realized we were on an impossible mission,” Mr. Amsy said. “We had no choice but to go home.” Mr. Fares, the Paltel official, said he was on the phone with technicians when the episode occurred and he heard shots.

The Israeli military said the incident could not be identified using the data provided.