Starlink to provide connections to internationally recognized aid groups in Gaza: Elon Musk

Tel Aviv [Israel]: Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday announced that his satellite-based communications system Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.

Musk made the announcement on his official social media platform ‘X’, in reply to a statement by US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, where she stated that Cutting off all communication to a population of 2.2 million is unacceptable.

She further stressed in her post that journalists, medical professionals, humanitarian efforts, and innocents are all endangered and the US historically denounced this practice.

Following this, Musk made the announcement stating, “Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza.”

According to The Times of Israel, aid groups said that they are unable to communicate with their teams in the Gaza Strip after phone and internet services collapsed during Israeli bombardment as they intensified the ground operation.

Starlink, operated by Musk-owned company SpaceX, has also been deployed in Ukraine shortly after the country was invaded by Russia in February 2022, reported The Times of Israel.

After Elon Musk acquired Twitter last year and renamed it ‘X’, experts said that the platform has become not just unreliable but actively promotes falsehoods.

Earlier, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that X has removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts, stating “There is no place on X for terrorist organisations”.

“X is committed to serving the public conversation, especially in critical moments like this and understands the importance of addressing any illegal content that may be disseminated through the platform. There is no place on X for terrorist organisations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real-time, including proactive groups,” said the social media platform’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino.

Amid the ongoing conflict, last week, Musk said all Tesla Superchargers in Israel are free.

Tesla Supercharger is a high-voltage direct current fast-charging network built by American vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Inc for electric cars.