Statement:

Freedom Forum joins MENA Alliance for Digital Rights and international community to support immediate restoration of telecommunications and other essential services in Gaza and any other affected areas, and to ensure that international and humanitarian law are respected. Freedom Forum and international civil society organizations condemn, in the strongest terms, Israel’s targeting of the means of communication and access to information in Gaza. We are deeply alarmed by Israel’s cutting-off of civilian telecommunication infrastructure, internet, electricity, mainstream media, journalists, and human rights defenders. Israel is currently holding 2.3 million Palestinians captive in Gaza, amid a near-total internet and power blackout. In less than two weeks, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 3,500 civilians, injured more than 12,000, and displaced over one million people. For the past 16 years, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, depriving people of their fundamental rights. Over the past 12 days, this blockade has been weaponized to deny Palestinians access to food, water, medical aid, electricity, and the internet. Denying people humanitarian aid during a siege is a war crime. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel has maintained control of the occupied Palestinian territory’s telecommunications infrastructure, denying Palestinians their right to access safe, affordable, and quality internet, including limiting access to 2G mobile data technologies in Gaza and 3G in the West Bank. During its military offensives on Gaza in 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2021, the Israeli occupation repeatedly bombed vital internet infrastructure, causing complete internet blackouts. During the recent escalation, Israel has targeted civil telecommunications infrastructure to limit Palestinians and international media from broadcasting its atrocities and crimes against humanity happening on the ground. Internet outages and disruptions have been documented in Gaza since the start of Israeli bombing, as reported  by the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis and by the #KeepitOn coalition. Israel has dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Gaza, targeting power and internet infrastructure, using white phosphorus against civilians, and blocking the entry of vital aid such as food and medical supplies. Without electricity, the internet, or basic Information and communication technology (ICT) services, people in Gaza cannot access life-saving information about which areas are under attack or where they can find medical supplies and aid, nor can they connect with families and loved ones. They are cut off from the world. In a war context, access to the internet is a fundamental enabler not only of personal and communal safety, but also of ensuring that human rights violations and war crimes are recorded and reported. Freedom of expression related to Palestine is currently in crisis, from tech platforms’ policies and practices censoring related content, to targeted attacks on and killings of journalists. The internet must be kept on to prevent this crisis of expression being exacerbated further. In Gaza, access to the internet, communications, and information can be the difference between life and death, just as much as vital necessities of food, fuel and water. Reporters, journalists, human rights defenders, and news agencies have been relentlessly targeted, leaving civilians to document the war via social media. The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the destruction of telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza, which prevents Palestinians from accessing life-saving information. We demand an immediate ceasefire and the immediate restoration of internet connectivity in Gaza, and we call for an end to the targeting of civilian telecommunications infrastructure. We call on the international community to take all necessary steps to support the immediate restoration of telecommunications and other essential services in Gaza and any other affected areas, and to ensure that international and humanitarian law are respected. Signatures  Freedom Forum, Nepal SMEX 7amleh Access Now INSM Foundation for Digital Rights WITNESS Derechos Digitales Sawn for Digital Rights Kandoo Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA) Meedan The Tor Project Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) MENA Rights Group (MRG) ARTICLE19 IFEX Association for Progressive Communications JCA-NET(Japan) Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) Internet Sans Frontières Lebanese Center for Human Rights Next Billion Network PAX Memoria Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social Paradigm Initiative (PIN) Kashmir Digital Rights Kashmir Instituto Nupef GreenNet Azerbaijan Internet Watch (AIW) Hiperderecho Numun Fund Bolo Bhi Miaan Group Office of civil freedoms Coding Rights Kijiji Yeetu Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria Ubunteam WAICT NETWORKS CABO VERDE Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative (DRLI) DIGICIVIC INITIATIVE (DI) Fantsuam Foundation, Nigeria Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio & Communication Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations (CEHRO) Liberty and Peace NOW! Human Rights Reporters Africa Open Data and Internet Research Foundation Advocacy Initiative for Development (AID) Myanmar Internet Project The Association of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Gambia (TANGO) Securing Organizations with Automated Policymaking (SOAP) Kigali Human Rights  Attorneys and Legal consultants YODET The Engine Room Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD) OXCON Consulting (United Kingdom) Fundación Acceso, Costa Rica. International Press Centre (IPC) Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP) World Pulse Manushya Foundation (Thailand, Laos) ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Instituto Minas Programam (Brazil) TEDIC Majal.org (Bahrain) TEDIC Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) ALTSEAN-Burma Aurat March Lahore Media Diversity Institute – Armenia RRR Collective Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP-Liberia) Youth and Society (YAS) AfricTivistes LaLibre.net Tecnologías Comunitarias – Ecuador SocialTIC Humanis Foundation Southeast Asia (affiliated with Hivos) Computer Professionals’ Union (Philippines) PERIN+1S YLBHI (Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation) Fight for the Future The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Kurdistan without Genocide Organization of the Justice Campaign Kurdish organizations Network coalition for the International Criminal court (KONCICC) May First Movement Technology Foundation for Media Alternatives PurpleCode Collective CODAYati Digital Rights Watch Body & Data, Nepal Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), Indonesia Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Internet Freedom Foundation Whose Knowledge? Zaina Foundation Human Rights Online Philippines (HRonlinePH) Arabi Fact Check Matsadaash Xnet, Spain EngageMedia   (Source: https://aadr.network/en/2023/10/20/international-civil-society-statement-restore-telecoms-and-internet-connectivity-in-gaza-now/?fbclid=IwAR3oT02cC2bZ6cG9v9AiJQtAJscpTmRW24a6CErZSkxsc7g9eyqKrm4yr1Q)