'Let me tell them goodbye before they get killed': How eSIM cards are connecting Palestinian families

Since the Israel–Hamas war began in early October, Farid Sami Alzaro, 27, has had little control over how and when he can communicate with his family. Alzaro lives in Cairo, and his extended family lives in Gaza.

The ability to make phone calls or connect to the Internet has been severely interrupted in Gaza since the war began, and continues to get worse, according to data from NetBlocks, an organization that monitors internet access. Palestinian telecom providers said that Israel's attacks have damaged communication lines and towers, according to Al Jazeera and Wired.

Israel has also cut off phone and internet access in Gaza several times in the last two weeks, according to multiple news outlets.

Alzaro didn't hear from his family for three days during the first blackout, which took place from Oct. 27 to 29. He did not know whether they were alive, had food or water, were able to sleep, or whether his family home had been bombed, he told The Markup. Then he received a short phone call from one of his relatives who had found a functioning phone at a neighbor's house, letting him know that they were fine and asking him to pray for them. 

Then, on Nov. 1, another day of radio silence. Alzaro didn't know when he'd hear from his family next.

"I lost all hope again," he said.

Alzaro had read on Instagram that people from around the world were donating and delivering eSIM cards to Palestinians. Despite the name, eSIM cards aren't physical cards at all but pieces of software that act like traditional SIM cards, allowing people to activate a new cellular plan with phone and internet access on their existing phone. Alzaro wrote to Egyptian writer and journalist Mirna El Helbawi (pictured above at her home in Cairo, Egypt, during a temporary blackout), who was organizing an eSIM distribution campaign, and she promptly sent him access information for an eSIM to share with his family in Gaza. His family couldn't get it to work. When he told El Helbawi, she sent him access information for a second one.

A full day after he shared the second eSIM's info, Alzaro's family called. It worked.

"It was the happiest moment of my life," Alzaro said in an Instagram message. "I talked. Also with my grandmother, who is Alzheimer's patient, do you know what she said to me? I want to hug you until you sleep in my arms, I don't want anything but to see you."

El Helbawi said she has distributed more than 7,000 eSIM cards free of charge since she started her campaign on Oct. 28. Within a few hours of launch, her campaign went viral. El Helbawi said that people across Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, Mexico, and other countries sent her eSIMs. She now has more than 14,000, donated by individuals who wanted to help bring connectivity to Palestinians in Gaza. Simly, a company that specializes in eSIMs, also reached out and provided thousands more. The feminist organization Speak Up put together a bilingual guide on how to activate eSIMs. 

Because donors purchase eSIMs using the telecom providers in their country and load it up with data, they're also notified by their provider when the eSIM is activated. When Palestinians in Gaza use these eSIMs to connect to the internet, they're essentially doing so through the donor's telecom service. Many people who have donated to El Helbawi's campaign have posted activation screenshots on social media.

El Helbawi has barely slept since she began her campaign, trying desperately to distribute eSIM cards while bearing witness to one harrowing account after another of what life is like in the middle of a war zone.

On Saturday evening, she was trying to help get a young man's eSIM to work when he told her he needed to step away for a little bit. A bomb may have hit his cousin's house on a neighboring street, he said, and he had to go check whether his cousin was still alive. "I'll come back," he told her.

Another time, she helped a father, who lived outside of Gaza, try to get his wife and children, who were in Gaza, access to a working phone. They had only been able to contact each other every two to three days, and the line kept breaking up, he told her. El Helbawi recounted that he'd needed to talk to them because if it was their last call together, he needed to hear them say goodbye.

On X, El Helbawi posted what one person who asked for an eSIM wrote, "The only thing I want in my life now is an e-sim to be able to call my family in Gaza, even if it will be the last call, let me tell them goodbye before they get killed."

"My heart got shattered in pieces," she said. "He doesn't want the internet connection to go on YouTube, not to be active on social media. He just wants to be there for the goodbye call. He's expecting his wife and kids to be killed any minute."

El Helbawi described that every time she chooses to sleep, she feels guilty. "There are people who are waiting on my social media who are willing and wanting to reconnect with their family. [It] is killing me every minute."

That's why a newly formed team is helping her: Gehad Hamdy, founder of Speak Up, was the first to join. Then, El Helbawi brought in two friends of hers, Marwan Abdelmawla and Mohamed Bebars, and Doaa Gawish, who asked if El Helbawi needed help and then recruited another 8 to 10 people. Together, they created shifts so someone would be available to distribute eSIMs 24 hours a day.