Twenty Palestinian expatriates who talked with BBC News said that Microsoft, the company that controls the voice and video chat app, removed them from their accounts. There is a substantially greater estimated number of people affected overall.
Some of these email accounts are almost fifteen years old, and the users are unable to access their contacts, emails, or recollections.
Microsoft claims that they broke its terms of service, but it won’t explain how, and that the ruling is final.
The Gazans claim they are not associated with Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by certain Western nations, including the US, home of Microsoft.
Salah Elsadi, a Palestinian resident in the United States, used Skype to contact his parents, wife, and kids back home in Gaza on their cell phones.
Due to the Israeli military effort, the internet is regularly interrupted or shut off, and regular international calls are exceedingly costly.
For many Palestinians, Skype has become a lifeline because it is inexpensive to call mobile phones in Gaza while the internet is unavailable with a paid membership.
