Gaza in its isolation. Time machine is back

GAZA – Abu Jihad al-Sultan dusted off an old radio he had owned for 30 years, repaired a defect that afflicted him from years of abandonment and neglect without use, and pursued radio stations to investigate news here or there, after Israel plunged the Strip into complete isolation since last Friday evening.

At about seven o'clock that evening, the Gaza Strip was on the verge of an unprecedented situation, in which more than two million Palestinians found themselves cut off from the outside world, following Israel's cutting off cellular, terrestrial and internet services.

Abu Jihad tells Al Jazeera Net, "We felt like we suddenly entered into a time machine that took us back decades to the back, the atmosphere during the hours of isolation was more terrifying, especially with the intense flight of Israeli warplanes, raids and the sounds of explosions resounding everywhere."

The young Firas Adwan adjusts the radio to follow the news on the available stations without interference as much as possible (Al Jazeera)

Back to Radio

Abu Jihad, 55, found himself forced to search for a radio among a pile of old gadgets and appliances in his storeroom: "I never expected that this radio would be the only way to know what's going on, not only in the distant world, but even the current events around me," he says.

Radios no longer have a place in the homes of the majority of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, except for a limited group of the elderly, who are usually attached to them and are not attracted by mobile phone applications.

Abu Jihad endured the hardships of standing for a long time and putting the radio on a window whose glass was shattered by an Israeli airstrike on one night of the escalating war on Gaza for the fourth week in a row.

He started moving an indicator with a metal disc in search of a radio station whose sound reaches him clearly, a task that is not easy in light of the severe interference caused by the intensive flights of warplanes and drones, which are popularly called in Gaza "drones", because of the annoying sounds they make around the clock.

Abu Jihad describes about 33 hours of isolation as "the most fearful and terrifying" since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the seventh of this month, and says, "The interruption of communications and the Internet tightened the noose around our necks, and the night hours were terrifying and frightening, and we fell asleep and were replaced by severe anxiety."

Egyptian and Israeli segments

But the young man in his twenties, Firas Adwan, did not tolerate the interruption of communications and the Internet, so he resorted to a telecommunications chip for an Egyptian company, whose services are only available, and of poor quality in some areas of the city of Rafah, adjacent to the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Firas says to Al Jazeera Net, he and others resorted to buying Egyptian SIM cards, quickly ran out of markets, in order to stay in touch with the world, and to know the developments of the Israeli aggression.

While Firas resorted to an Egyptian telecommunications chip, after the disruption of the services of the telecommunications companies "Jawwal" and "Ooredoo" operating in the Palestinian territories, a few Gazans found their way in the telecommunications chips of Israeli companies, the activation of which needs to be located in areas close to the security fence in the eastern Gaza Strip, and because these areas are fraught with many risks, their choice was to climb on the roofs of high houses.

Essam, a journalist working for a foreign news agency who preferred not to give his full name, said he made one call from an Israeli SIM card registered in the agency's name and was surprised to see it immediately disabled and out of service.

During the hours of isolation, radio was also valuable to Firas and Essam, both of the younger generation, as it was a major source of information. Essam said, "A local radio station that broadcasts news bulletins on Al-Jazeera satellite channel linked him throughout the hours of isolation to the events and developments of the war in the Gaza Strip."

Ambulance towards sound and smoke

The interruption of communications and the Internet has further complicated and hindered the work of medical and ambulance staff, which are no longer able to locate Israeli airstrikes and target areas.

During the isolation hours, ambulances relied on moving according to the source of sound, or towards the plumes of smoke emanating from the airstrikes, and at night they were only able to move after the victims of the raids arrived in primitive ways on buggy (karoo), or small cars traveling on 3 wheels popularly called "tiktuks".

The correspondent of the local Al-Aqsa network in the city of Rafah Jamal Adwan, told Al Jazeera Net, that ambulances were distributed during the hours of communications and Internet outages in several main axes in the city, in order to quickly respond and go towards homes and targeted places.

Since the outbreak of the war, journalists residing in the only Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, including Jamal Adwan, have found themselves unable to follow developments and communicate with their employers, as is the case with the majority of journalists in the Gaza Strip, including large numbers who have resorted to hospitals.

A citizen in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, charges his devices in the street in light of a complete power outage since the outbreak of the war (Al-Jazeera)

On the roadside

Owners of homes and local businesses working on electricity generated by solar cells volunteered to extend electricity connections in the streets, making them available free of charge to those who need to charge radios and mobile phones, and small batteries used for easy household lighting to overcome the pitch darkness.

With the outbreak of the war on Gaza, Israel imposed a permanent blockade, preventing the entry of many materials, banning the supply of fuel needed to operate the Strip's only power plant, and cutting off the line carrying electricity from Israel.

Despite the dangers of gatherings in the streets and at crossroads, especially with previous targets that resulted in martyrs and wounded, the state of isolation forced many young people in refugee camps to gather in front of their doors, between the alleys of the camps, and to exchange news about developments on the ground in light of the lack of communications and the Internet.