Musk in new Starlink row over Gaza aid offer

The billionaire’s offer angered Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi who said Hamas would use it for terrorist activities.

Gaza is the second recent conflict Mr Musk has become embroiled in over Starlink. Picture: AFP

Israel has vowed to cut ties with Elon Musk’s Starlink service after the billionaire offered the satellite network to aid organisations in Gaza.

Mr Musk tweeted that Starlink “will support connectivity to internationally recognised aid organisations in Gaza” after communications in the territory were cut by Israel. He was responding to a tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat in the US House of Representatives, who said: “Cutting off all communication to a population of 2.2 million is unacceptable.”

Starlink is a project run by Mr Musk’s SpaceX company and provides an internet connection to remote or cut-off areas through low-orbit satellites.

His offer angered Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who tweeted: “Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this. Hamas will use it for terrorist activities. There is no doubt, we know it, Musk knows it. Hamas is ISIS. Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. By then, my office will cut any ties with Starlink.”

Mr Musk responded: “We are not so naive. Per my post, no Starlink terminal has attempted to connect from Gaza. If one does, we will take extraordinary measures to confirm that it is used *only* for purely humanitarian reasons. Moreover, we will do a security check with the US and Israeli governments before turning on a single terminal.”

Starlink satellites orbit 550km above Earth compared with other internet satellites at 35,700km. To connect to Starlink, a user needs a ground antenna that costs about $850 and a monthly subscription from about $160.

Gaza is the second recent conflict Mr Musk has become embroiled in over Starlink, prompting concerns he is making decisions that should be restricted to the military. In September last year he refused to extend the service to Crimea so Ukrainian forces could launch a surprise attack on Russian vessels. Ukraine claimed Mr Musk had enabled cruise missiles to be fired at civilians.

Mr Musk tweeted after the October 7 attacks by Hamas that he was “sorry to see what’s happening in Israel” and hoped “there can be peace one day”.

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