Digital Rights Weekly Update: 4 - 10 September 2026

Policy Insight

This week brings a moment of real pride for 7amleh with our receiving the 2026 EFF Award, recognising years of work to make the digital space safer, fairer and more rights-respecting for Palestinians. At the same time, the stories this week remind us why this work matters: Gaza’s damaged communications infrastructure continues to undermine education, work and basic connectivity, while digital risks and surveillance grow. We were also proud to be part of the launch of Palestine’s National Council for Digital Transformation and Future Technology, as a civil society stakeholder contributing to the human rights assessment of Palestine’s digital transformation. From infrastructure and resilience to privacy, expression and digital governance, our collective challenge is to ensure that technological transformation does not reproduce existing inequalities, but helps build a fairer technological future for Palestinians wherever they are.

News Digest

7amleh Receives 2026 EFF Award for Advancing Palestinian Digital Rights

7amleh

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) awarded 7amleh one of the 2026 EFF Awards in recognition of its vital work ensuring that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people. 7amleh is also honored to be named alongside this year's other awardees: Access Now, DeFlock, and New Media Rights. For over 30 years, the EFF Awards have recognized key leaders in the fight for freedom and innovation online. The awards honor specific and substantial technical, social, economic, or cultural contributions across a range of fields, including journalism, art, digital access, legislation, technology development, and law.

ICSPR Issues a Fact Sheet on Cybercrime and Digital-Space Risks in the Gaza Strip

ICSPR

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) has issued a fact sheet on cybercrime and digital-space risks in the Gaza Strip. The paper examines the escalating threats faced by individuals and institutions in the digital environment amid increasing reliance on the internet and social-media platforms for education, work, communication, and access to information and services, alongside the continuing war, declining traditional services, and weakened telecommunications and electricity infrastructure.

New Report by Adalah: “Apartheid in Israeli Academia: Palestinian Students After 7 October 2023”

Adalah

A wide range of expressions triggered disciplinary proceedings, including criticism of Israeli government policy, the Israeli military, or the war in Gaza; content related to the 7 October attacks; the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip; religious expressions including verses from the Qur’an; and visual symbols of Palestinian identity. In some cases, a mere “like” of a post, the display of a Palestinian flag or the word “Palestine” on a profile, sharing a news report, or posting a prayer for the residents of Gaza was enough to trigger a complaint or disciplinary proceeding.

PM Mustafa launches National Council for Digital Transformation and Future Technology

WAFA

Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa today launched the National Council for Digital Transformation and Future Technology (NDTFT), a national platform bringing together the government, private sector, academics, innovators, and Palestinians around the world under a unified digital vision, as part of the Palestinian Digital Renaissance 2026–2029. Speaking at an event held following the council’s first meeting, attended by several ministers and officials, as well as representatives of the private and banking sectors, Mustafa said that he views digital transformation not as a technical project, nor simply as the conversion of paper-based transactions into electronic services, but as an economic, developmental, and national project that brings together capabilities and resources and directs them toward shared priorities, creates investment opportunities, enhances the efficiency of national institutions, supports Palestinian companies, and opens new horizons for Palestinian youth and the economy in terms of employment and development.

Gaza teachers plan offline lessons for a broken network

The Times of Palestine

Middle East Monitor, citing the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, reported that 64 per cent of mobile towers were out of service as Gaza entered 2026, that Paltel had lost roughly 80 per cent of its more than 500 towers, and that mobile coverage in Rafah had fallen to 27 per cent, with sector reconstruction estimated at a minimum of $90 million. The policy institute Al-Shabaka, citing the Palestinian digital rights group 7amleh, reported that more than half of Gaza's telecommunications infrastructure had been destroyed and a further quarter damaged, that Paltel's network remained 80 per cent offline, and that minimal power, strikes and restrictions on repair materials had blocked recovery.