The Gaza strip has a small, poorly developed road
network. It also had a single standard gauge railway line running
the entire length of the strip from north to south along its center;
however, it is abandoned and in disrepair, and little trackage
remains. The line once connected to the Egyptian railway system
to the south as well as the Israeli system to the north.
The strip's one port was never completed after the
outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Its airport, the Gaza International
Airport, opened on 24 November 1998 as part of agreements stipulated
in the Oslo II Accord and the 23 October 1998 Wye River Memorandum.
The airport was closed in October 2000 by Israeli orders, and
its runway was destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces in December
2001. It has since been renamed Yasser Arafat International Airport.
The Gaza strip has rudimentary landline telephone
service provided by an open-wire system as well as extensive mobile
telephone services provided by PalTel (Jawwal) or Israeli providers
such as Cellcom. Gaza is serviced by four internet service providers
that now compete for ADSL and dial-up customers. Most Gaza households
have a radio and a TV (70%+), and roughly 20% have a personal
computer. People living in Gaza enjoy access to satellite television
(Al Jazeera, Lebanese and Egyptian entertainment programs, etc.),
local private channels, and broadcast TV from the Palestinian
Broadcasting Corporation, the Israel Broadcasting Authority and
the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority.