Many buildings in Gaza key to the tech industry, such as Burj Al-Wattan, were destroyed by Israeli

The #war between Israel and #Hamas has blown apart #Palestine's growing #techindustry, with #Israeli #missiles hitting the region. Gaza, despite being one of the most economically challenged regions in the world, has always been a tech hub for both #Palestine and #Palestinians. International companies have sought out a presence there to collaborate with talented tech freelancers and startups that gradually emerged from the region. Nvidia, famed for its role in the new AI boom, has been working with at least 100 engineers from the region for years. Since at least 2008, @TechCrunch has been covering technology companies out of Palestine, some serving their direct audience and some serving the tech world internationally. #SiliconValley had taken an increasing interest in #Palestine as a tech hub, but like the ecosystem itself, it’s nascent. To date, those working in the region estimate that $10 million has been invested in the Palestinian tech ecosystem.

#Gaza #Sky #Geeks, an @Alphabet-backed initiative based in Gaza that provides pre-seed investments, training, and technology resources to #Palestine’s #Gazan population, has been a beacon of entrepreneurship in the region. All of that is now, effectively, gone, like the buildings in Gaza itself. Israel is currently retaliating militarily against the attacks on its people, on its soil, and the hostages subsequently taken by Hamas. That strategy has seen it pummeling the ‘#GazaStrip’ with bombs to eradicate it of Hamas and get its hostages back. Over 1,500 people in Palestine have been killed so far. The tech industry in Israel, the country’s biggest export, and its biggest contributor to #GDP, is also taking a big knock. The impact on the smaller and more fragile ecosystem in Gaza has been, inevitably, significantly more serious. The physical, economic, and societal destruction resulting from that leaves any future for the tech industry in doubt.

In the wake of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the bombings have severely impacted the tech sector. #Electricity has been cut off to the entire Gaza strip, and infrastructure has been bombed, including #ISPs and tall apartment buildings holding cell phone towers. Middle-class neighborhoods are being destroyed, with many people in danger of being unable to work due to the bombings. The tech sector is almost completely unable to function in Gaza right now, with many people in danger of being forced to evacuate three times in the past 24 hours.

@Manara, a #socialimpact #startup funded by @YCombinator, @Seedcamp, @ReidHoffman, @EricRies, @MarcBenioff, @PaulGraham, and @JessicaLivingston, has around 100 software engineers in Gaza, some working remotely for tech companies in Silicon Valley/Europe. One software engineer who works at Upwork disappeared for several days until being found alive. Dalia Awad, whose Medium post about getting into Google from Gaza went viral in 2021, returned to Gaza after her internships at Google and Datadog to graduate from university. She had a full-time job offer at Datadog in Paris, but decided to stay home in Gaza and look for a remote job so she could be close to family.

@MaiTemraz, Manara's first employee, is based in #SanBernardino, #California. Her family lived in #GazaCity and narrowly escaped a bombing. They barely survived an attack on a building next to them in Gaza. @@LeenAbubaker of @FlowAccelator and #Cofounder at Sawaed19 confirmed there was a noticeable freeze in terms of activity in the West Bank. Tech companies are either operating on a very limited scale, with employees struggling to reach their offices in the West Bank due to unsafe roads blocked by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, or they have been forced out of business entirely in Gaza.

Article: techcrunch.com/2023/10/14/pal…