As Gaza experienced a near-total communications blackout on Friday, a campaign began trending on social media platforms, calling on billionaire tycoon Elon Musk to power the bombarded enclave with Starlink internet, Al Jazeera reports.

The satellite internet venture operated by SpaceX is comprised of a “constellation of thousands of satellites” that orbit very close to Earth at about 550km from the surface, making it easier to provide internet services in rural and isolated regions of the world where the internet terminals and cables aren’t strong.

While Starlink’s tagline is the promise of “connectivity where you least expect it”, Marc Owen Jones, associate professor of Middle East Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University based in Doha, is uncertain if it can work in Gaza.

“We’ve seen 500,000 posts on X saying Starlink should power Gaza. But people don’t actually appreciate that ‘Starlink for Gaza’ is an impossibility,” he told Al Jazeera.

Read more from Al Jazeera here.