Scoop: Israel and UN negotiate deploying Musk's Starlink in Gaza
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United Nations workers prepare aid for distribution to Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on Nov. 4, 2023. Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Israel and the United Nations are negotiating the deployment of Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink communications system in Gaza as part of a plan to increase security for UN aid workers in the enclave, according to three Israeli officials and one UN official.
Why it matters: The UN told Israel the system is a requirement for the organization to fully resume the distribution of aid across the Gaza strip, Israeli officials said.
- But Israel is concerned the system could fall into the hands of Hamas and make it more difficult for Israeli intelligence to monitor the group's communications, raising the risk of coordinated attacks on Israel by Hamas militants, the officials said.
Driving the news: The UN in June scaled down its operations in Gaza after aid workers were endangered by Israeli airstrikes and attacked by Palestinian civilians and gunmen.
- UN security evaluations concluded the organization pushed the envelope with security risks to its people and therefore decided to suspend much of the distribution of aid in Gaza.
- This led to a sharp decrease in the amount of aid reaching Palestinians in need in Gaza and compounded the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
Behind the scenes: The Israeli government saw the UN decision to suspend aid distribution as a political move driven by UN leadership and intended to increase pressure on Israel to end the war, Israeli officials told Axios. UN officials have privately denied that.
- The Biden administration tried to mediate between the parties, stressing to Israel that the UN's security concerns are real while beginning to work on a solution, U.S. officials said.
- "We have have been involved in a number of discussions in the past few days between the various United Nations agencies and various components of the Israeli government to try to work through some security challenges that the UN is currently facing to deliver humanitarian assistance," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing last week but did not mention Starlink specifically.
The issue came up during Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant's visit to Washington last week, a senior Israeli official said.
- As a result, Gallant told the head of the UN security department that Israel was committed to taking steps to avoid targeting UN staff in Gaza, Israeli and UN officials said.
- They added that Gen. Ghassan Alian, the Israeli government coordinator for the West Bank and Gaza, held a meeting on the issue at the UN headquarters in New York last week.
Zoom in: During the discussions, the UN asked to deploy the SpaceX Starlink communications system at its headquarters in Gaza, Israeli officials said.
- The UN said it needs the satellite internet system to allow better radio and mobile phone communications for its staff in Gaza, the officials said.
- Israel raised concerns about the UN request and said Hamas had stolen sophisticated and sensitive communications equipment in the past and could try to take the Starlink system, officials said.
- The Israelis were specifically concerned about the Starlink system because they said it is harder for Israeli intelligence services to monitor and it could make it easier for Hamas to coordinate attacks without being detected.
What they're saying: Israeli officials told Axios Israel asked the UN for guarantees about where the system will be located in Gaza and the ability to remotely disable the terminal in case it is stolen.
- The U.S. encouraged Israel to agree to the UN requests and urged the UN to give guarantees to the Israelis about the system's security.
- "There are some of the requests where Israel has legitimate security concerns, and what we're trying to do is broker agreements that give the UN personnel the assurances they need that they can operate securely while still protecting Israel's legitimate security concerns," Miller said.
What to watch: The UN proposed sending a team to Israel to conduct a presentation of the system to Israeli technical experts in order to show it can be remotely neutralized and address the Israeli security services concerns, Israeli officials said.
- "A team from the UN security department is heading to Israel as part of our continuing engagement on security related issues to the UN operations in Gaza," a senior UN official told Axios.
