The app and siren are a backstop to Israel’s massive military defense. The Iron Dome missile defense system effectively intercepts or destroys most airborne weapons headed for Israel. But in recent days, some rockets have missed and injured people, prompting the government to encourage Israelis to download the app.
Across the border, the Israeli military occasionally calls people in the Gaza Strip to warn them of attacks on their country. However, since the start of Israel’s latest offensive, the region’s electricity and communications networks have become unreliable, and internet access appeared to be completely cut off on Friday. Zamir said the Home Front Command app does not provide alerts because disputed Hamas-controlled areas are outside Israeli jurisdiction.
Palestinian activists and tech entrepreneurs say no one seems willing to provide Gaza’s civilians with a comparable early warning system. Hamas did not respond to requests for comment.
If power and communications remain intact, a warning app could technically work in the Gaza Strip, perhaps in a similar way to the system that Western governments are funding in Syria. A vetted user and social media scanning tool provides the app with observations about drones, missiles, and other military operations. Machine learning and other data analysis techniques will determine which areas of Syria require warnings. Alerts are then sounded through public sirens and messaging apps.
But it is unclear who would be willing to stand up a regime like Gaza, or how it could continue to function as Israeli attacks continue. Israeli airstrikes over the past three weeks have crippled communications networks and damaged key infrastructure. On Friday, the last internet provider operating services in Gaza and Partel and British internet monitoring company NetBlocks reported that Gaza was completely offline. The United Nations agency that advocates for Palestinians says generators are reaching capacity after Israel cut off power and fresh fuel.
“Technological solutions are ineffective,” said Mohammad Alnobani, a Palestinian CEO of Middle Frame, an Arab-focused stock photography service, after Friday’s communication breakdown in Gaza. spoke in advance. He says trying to maintain contact with anyone in Gaza right now is frustrating. “We usually lose contact with them, but get back in touch every few days to see if they are alive.”
app surge
Israel’s smartphone early warning system has its roots in a side project started in 2012 by two Israeli software engineers. With access to government data feeds, they are currently using Red Alert, which notifies people when a street siren (part of a system known as Red Collar) sounds to warn of incoming rockets. : We have developed an app known as Israel. They aimed to reach people who may have never heard sirens, perhaps because they were on the outskirts of town or because they were driving a car.
Its use first became widespread in 2014, when more than 1,400 Palestinian civilians and six Israeli civilians were killed, according to the United Nations. To encourage adoption, the developers designed an option that allows alerts to be sent to Yo, a currently viral social app. Yo was only known for allowing users to exchange messages with “Yo”. It subsequently went out of business.