Widespread outages hit mobile, internet networks across Israel

Widespread disruptions hit internet and mobile phone networks across Israel on Tuesday, causing major service interruptions for millions of users amid conflicting assessments over the cause.

Israel's Communications Ministry said the reason for the outages was "unknown," while Hebrew-language media reported that a cyberattack could not be ruled out.

The private daily Israel Hayom said that a large-scale outage affected telecommunications and internet services nationwide, triggering widespread disruption for users.

According to the newspaper, many users reported mobile browsing outages, internet service failures and disruptions to major applications and websites.

The paper also reported that simultaneous outages at Partner and Cellcom, two major providers of mobile and internet services, raised concerns about a broader failure in the country's telecommunications infrastructure.

Disruptions were also reported to cloud computing services, credit card processing and public transportation systems, reinforcing assessments that the incident involved an unusual, large-scale technical event.

Technical sources cited by the paper said the incident did not appear to be a localized malfunction but stressed that there was still no official confirmation that the disruption resulted from a cyberattack. They said the simultaneous impact on mobile networks and fiber-optic systems prompted authorities to closely monitor the situation.

In a statement, Israel's Ministry of Communications said there was a malfunction affecting the mobile networks of Partner and Hot Mobile, adding that the cause of the outage remained unclear.