Without eSIMs, Gazans would be “cut off from the world” and “no one would know what was happening in the Gaza Strip.” Like many Palestinians, Hani al-Shaer bought a virtual chip to cope with frequent phone and internet outages.
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According to Palestinian operator Paltel, all telecommunications were disrupted on Tuesday for the fourth time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The dematerialized chip is the gateway for residents of the Gaza Strip to communicate with the outside world. These eSIMs are purchased by families living abroad.
The principle is simple: to activate the card, you must scan the QR code sent by the loved one with a mobile phone camera compatible with the system. The user then connects to a foreign network, often Israeli, sometimes Egyptian, in roaming mode.
Using eSIM is almost essential to stay connected as the Israeli army shelled the Gaza Strip following Hamas's bloody Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil, killing about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
In retaliation, Israel, which has vowed to “destroy Hamas,” is carrying out bombings and a ground offensive in the small area where more than 20,915 people, mostly civilians, have been killed, according to the latest Hamas government report.
Search for victims
For more than a week, Samar Labad “lost” contact with his family.
Her brother, who lives in Belgium, finally sent her an eSIM, says the 38-year-old mother, who had to flee with her three children from Gaza City and the fighting for settlement in Rafah in the south, where tens of thousands of displaced people are crammed into makeshift camps .
“The communication is not stable, but it serves its purpose,” she admits. “At least we stay in touch with each other, even if temporarily, for peace of mind.”
On the other hand, she cannot directly contact her relatives who live in Khan Younes in the south of the Gaza Strip. “I hear from them about a person who lives with them and whose phone is eSIM compatible.”
It is not enough to have a virtual chip to ensure communication. The service is only available in areas near the border with Israel, where you have to climb onto roofs to receive a signal.
Ibrahim Mukhaimar sees mostly journalists passing by his cell phone store.
They “use eSIMs to convey to the world the real situation, particularly the fact that the occupation has deliberately tried to hide what is happening in the Gaza Strip,” he believes. “Show that there is a shortage of essential basic products,” adds the retailer.
In addition to reporters, “there are also doctors and civil defense workers who are trying to find out the exact location of the attacks in order to help people,” notes Ibrahim Mukhaimar. There are also employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees “UNRWA, who need them to organize aid convoys,” he explains.
“World Championships”
If these virtual chips compensate for telecommunications outages, the irony is that you need the Internet to activate them. “It can take two to three hours,” explains Yasser Qudieh, journalist and photo reporter (JRI).
The price of the card varies between “15 and 100 dollars, depending on the validity period, which ranges from a week to two months,” he indicates. To “get better Wi-Fi service,” prices can skyrocket.
“Without these eSim cards, we would be cut off from the world and no one would know what was happening in the Gaza Strip,” says Hani al-Shaer, a local journalist who also uses them for his “live broadcasts in 4G or 5G”.
In late October, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that cuts to telecommunications and internet in the Gaza Strip risked “serving as a cover for mass atrocities and contributing to impunity for human rights violations.”
In addition to documenting the war, Palestinian journalists use eSIMs to act as messengers.
“Many expats contact us to follow the latest news in Gaza and to receive information about their families. We reassure them and inform them about the bombings when Palestinian service providers are not working,” explains Yasser Qudieh.