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SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said that his Starlink satellite internet service has been activated in a hospital in Gaza, where many medical facilities have been destroyed by Israel’s bombing campaign, with the help of the United Arab Emirates and Israel, Reuters reports.
The Gulf Arab state’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, thanked the billionaire entrepreneur for supporting the UAE field hospital in Gaza, where many medical facilities have been demolished and medicines are scarce.
“Starlink is now active in a Gaza hospital with the support of @UAEmediaoffice and @Israel,” Musk posted on X.
Starlink is now active in a Gaza hospital with the support of @UAEmediaoffice and @Israel
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2024
The announcement came more than five months after the Israeli government gave approval for Starlink’s use in the hospital in Rafah.
Residents said yesterday that Israeli occupation forces had blown up several homes in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. Israel had stormed the town on 6 May and raised its flag over it, stopping the entry of aid through its border.
The high speed internet would enable potentially life-saving medical consultations via real-time video calling, the UAE foreign ministry said in February.
The UAE, a major oil producer and regional finance and tourism hub, signed a normalisation deal with Israel in 2020 along with Bahrain and Sudan. Morocco later sealed a normalisation agreement with Israel.
The pacts were designed to bring stability and prosperity to the turbulent Middle East.
Israel has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since it launched its latest military offensive in the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023. Its brutal bombing campaign has turned the coastal strip into a wasteland and led to Israel facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
READ: Biden to meet with families of US hostages held in Gaza, says official