Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
How eSIM Cards Are Connecting Palestinian Families (themarkup.org)
21 points by jbegley on Nov 7, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments



Assuming they connect to towers in Israel and Egypt? I wonder how esims from a foreign provider can be used for this purpose.


FTA > It’s hard to predict whether eSIMs will continue to work in Gaza, and specifically, whether they will work during future blackouts, since the technical details of Israel’s efforts to deny internet and phone access aren’t well documented.

I'm surprised by a lot of things. This paragraph makes it sound like the cell antennas in Gaza still have power but are controlled by the Israeli Government, and their blocking seem to be only against Palestinian SIM cards. SIM cards have home country IDs that remain the same even when you're roaming, and this[1] says Israel and Palestine share theirs. Well then it makes sense that the IG would just block SIMs of Palestinian networks. Although if they were intent on it they can check which foreign SIM cards have started showing up the past few weeks and block them too.

As for the antennas still working, I guess there are good reasons, e.g. what if a hostage has managed to take an Israeli phone and has a chance to make a phone call, or what if the soldiers need the phone as a fallback.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_network_codes_in_ITU_re...


Do they also connect the hostages kidnapped and held in Gaza to heir families?




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: