The near-total telecommunications blackout in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Palestinian territory risks providing cover for mass atrocities, AFP has quoted the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) as saying.
“Widespread phone and internet outages occurred in Gaza on October 27, 2023, amid a concerted Israeli bombardment, almost entirely cutting off the 2.2 million residents from the outside world,” HRW said in a statement.
“This information blackout risks providing cover for mass atrocities and contributing to impunity for human rights violations,” Deborah Brown, the group’s senior technology and human rights researcher, said in the statement.
“This communications blackout means that it will be even more difficult to obtain critical information and evidence about human rights violations and war crimes being committed against Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” it added.
