Power cuts have become a fact of life in war-torn Gaza. But thanks to embedded SIM cards, Palestinians can still access the internet and stay in touch with loved ones abroad.
"Without them, we'd be cut off from the world," said Hani al-Shaer, a local journalist who depends on eSIM cards to do his live streams.
"And no one would know what was happening in Gaza," he added, just as the besieged territory on Tuesday experienced the latest in a series of telecoms breakdowns since the conflict began.
The war erupted after the Hamas attack on October 7 killed around 1,140 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
Israel has led a massive air and ground campaign against the Palestinian militants in retaliation.
The offensive has left vast areas of Gaza in ruins and killed at least 20,915 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Human Rights Watch has warned that phone and internet disruptions in Gaza could "provide cover for atrocities and breed impunity while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk".
Internet and telephone services that were cut on Tuesday were gradually being restored in central and southern areas of Gaza, the Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said on X, formerly Twitter.
The idea behind the eSIM is simple: they are a software version of the chips usually inserted into phones to connect to cellular networks and the internet.
