Elon Musk announced that his Starlink satellites would provide coverage to the Gaza Strip after the bombings by the Israeli Defense Forces left the Palestinian population and international organizations without internet acess. At first, Musk's announcement caused controversy for providing aid that would be used by the terrorist group Hamas. The owner of X (formerly Twitter) took advantage of the criticism to explain himself and give more details.
According to Musk, the internet and link coverage provided by the Starlink satellites will only be available to humanitarian organizations with international recognition. According to Musk, Starlink works with the governments of Israel and the United States to ensure that only terminals and humanitarian organizations have access to its services.
With this measure, Musk aims to prevent Palestinian armed groups from using the Starlink infrastructure, while continuing to provide support to the various humanitarian aid groups that have been incommunicado since last Friday, when the lines went down before the Israeli offensive intensified.
We are not so naive.
Per my post, no Starlink terminal has attempted to connect from Gaza.
If one does, we will take extraordinary measures to confirm that it is used *only* for purely humanitarian reasons.
Moreover, we will do a security check with both the US and Israeli…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2023
From the Israeli side, Elon Musk received criticism from the Minister of Communications, Shlomo Karhi. "Hamas will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt, we know it and Musk knows it. Hamas is ISIS," wrote the Israeli minister on X (formerly Twitter) in response to Musk's announcement to provide coverage. Shlomo suggested that connectivity through Starlink be used as a negotiating tool for the release of more hostages.
Elon Musk was quick to respond directly to Minister Karhi and remind him of the security conditions required to connect through Starlink. According to the same message on Musk's networks, as of this Saturday, "no Starlink terminal has attempted to connect from Gaza."
Starlink in Ukraine
It is not the first time that Elon Musk intervenes in a war conflict with his Starlink satellites. With infrastructure collapsing in Ukraine after the Russian invasion, Musk's company also provided extraordinary coverage for war zones.
Starlink consists of a constellation of satellites operational since 2019 and launched by the company of the same name and operated by SpaceX. When they are calibrated for this, they have the capacity to offer broadband internet connection to a specific area of the globe.
