In Gaza, keeping the internet on can cost lives but also save them

BEIRUT: Forced to flee his home yet again as war raged across the Gaza Strip, Khalil Salim was desperate to get his family to safety but how could he be sure he wasn’t leading them deeper into danger?

He needed up-to-date information and so he went online and checked out the official social media accounts of the Israeli army and other online sources.

“We would take instructions from the internet. We couldn’t assess the internal fighting … so we would follow the news and channels and look at Facebook and see what people wrote,” Salim said.