{"id":5971,"date":"2025-12-19T12:22:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=5971"},"modified":"2025-12-19T12:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:22:47","slug":"gazas-tech-workers-code-from-rubble-as-israels-war-destroys-digital-life-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=5971","title":{"rendered":"Gaza\u2019s tech workers code from rubble as Israel\u2019s war destroys digital life | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

In a territory where 81 percent of buildings lie damaged or destroyed, a small community of young Palestinians is fighting to preserve what remains of Gaza\u2019s digital world.<\/p>\n

Coders, repair technicians and freelance workers are labouring under impossible conditions to keep the besieged enclave connected to the outside world.<\/p>\n

\n

Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n

Against all odds, Gaza\u2019s youths continue to adapt.\u00a0They work offline, code in notebooks, store solar power whenever the sun is out, and wait for rare moments of connectivity to send their work to clients around the world.<\/p>\n

In a war that has taken nearly everything, digital skills have become a form of survival \u2013 and resilience.<\/p>\n

Many now also rely on online work to make a living. But even that fragile lifeline is now hanging by a thread after more than two years of Israel\u2019s genocidal war.<\/p>\n

\"Gaza
Palestinians work on laptops and mobile devices in Gaza despite widespread destruction of telecommunications infrastructure [Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli forces have \u201cdeliberately and systematically destroyed\u201d the telecommunications infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just always look for another way to get connected, always find another way,\u201d said Shaima Abu Al Atta, a coder working from a displacement camp. \u201cThis is what actually gave us purpose because if we didn\u2019t do this, we would just die surviving and not doing anything. We would die internally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the war erupted in October 2023, Gaza had a modest but vibrant tech scene. Innovation hubs hosted coding bootcamps, and hundreds of freelancers worked remotely for international clients. Much of that ecosystem now lies in ruins.<\/p>\n

Shareef Naim, an engineer who led a technology hub, described what was lost. His building housed more than 12 programmers with contracts for companies outside Gaza, he said. \u201cThe team was very active,\u201d Naim told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Today, the structure is destroyed, though some team members are still trying to work from tents and emergency shelters.<\/p>\n

\"Gaza
Technicians in Gaza work to repair telecommunications equipment amid severe shortages of spare parts and electricity [Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Computer technician A\u2019aed Shamaly says, \u201cThe main challenge is electricity. Today, electricity is not available all the time, and if it is available, it is unstable,\u00a0 and there will be a lot of cuts. Prices are also high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Electricity, when available at all, is unstable and prohibitively expensive, $12 per kilowatt compared with $1.50 for 10 kilowatts before the war, he said. \u201cThere are no spare parts,\u201d he added, so technicians must scavenge components from broken equipment pulled from bombed buildings.<\/p>\n

The scale of destruction is staggering. According to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), approximately 198,273 structures across Gaza have been damaged, with 123,464 completely destroyed. The telecommunications sector has been particularly hard hit.<\/p>\n

Data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reveals that 64 percent of mobile phone towers were out of service as of early April 2025. In Rafah, coverage has collapsed to just 27 percent, down from near-universal access before the war.<\/p>\n

During the war, connectivity watchdog NetBlocks documented repeated disruptions, including what it called a \u201cnear-total telecoms blackout\u201d in January 2024 that lasted for days.<\/p>\n

Israel has long restricted Gaza to outdated 2G mobile technology while allowing 4G in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

The telecommunications sector\u2019s value has cratered from $13m in 2023 to just $1.5m in 2024, an 89 percent collapse. Estimated losses exceed half a billion dollars, while reconstruction is projected to cost at least $90m.<\/p>\n

\"Gaza
Palestinians struggle to maintain internet connectivity in Gaza, where most telecommunications infrastructure has been destroyed [Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The consequences ripple across Gaza\u2019s economy and society.<\/p>\n

Remote work was a crucial income source in a territory where unemployment exceeded 79 percent even before October 2023. Now, erratic internet access has pushed many freelancers into joblessness just as Israeli-induced famine has sent food prices soaring.<\/p>\n

The telecommunications collapse has also paralysed the banking system, preventing money transfers and leaving families unable to access cash. Healthcare has been disrupted, with the World Health Organization documenting deaths caused by the inability to contact emergency services in time.<\/p>\n

Even during the fragile ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, Israel has blocked essential repair equipment from entering Gaza. The restrictions form part of what analysts describe as a deliberate strategy to maintain control over Palestinian digital infrastructure and suppress the flow of information to the outside world.<\/p>\n

The future remains deeply uncertain, as efforts to push a fragile ceasefire forward appear to stall and Israel threatens the possibility of returning to full-scale war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a territory where 81 percent of buildings lie damaged or destroyed, a small community of young Palestinians is fighting to preserve what remains of Gaza\u2019s digital world. Coders, repair technicians and freelance workers are labouring under impossible conditions to keep the besieged enclave connected to the outside world. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}