Amid Rising Tensions with Iran, GPS Signal Jammed in Israel

Amid rising tensions with Iran, GPS signals are being jammed across significant parts of Israel to disrupt satellite navigation for missiles and drones. This was reported by BBC.

Iran has vowed to retaliate for a strike on its consulate building in Syria earlier this week, which resulted in the deaths of 13 people, including General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a prominent commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strike is believed to have been carried out by Israel, although officials in the country have not commented on it.

The Israeli Defense Forces have halted all leaves for combat units and servicemen. Days before, the country had called on the air defense reserves. According to reports, Israeli authorities consider it likely that Iran will attack the country as soon as Friday, which is Al-Quds Day (the Arabic name for Jerusalem) and the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. This day often sees Palestinian and anti-Israeli demonstrations, especially in Iran.

This Thursday, GPS jamming began in central Israel, affecting major cities, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where residents are far from the combat zone in Gaza. Location-dependent applications have encountered disruptions. For instance, a BBC producer in Jerusalem found that their phone indicated their location as Cairo.

The GPSJAM monitoring service has recorded widespread outages of GPS functionality across Israel. An official spokesperson for the IDF confirmed that spoofing of GPS signals is taking place. This technology has been observed in action multiple times, such as around the Kremlin in Moscow.

In Israel, GPS spoofing has been ongoing for the past six months along the northern border with Lebanon, where clashes continue with the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

As reported by the Times of Israel, Israelis are advised to manually set their locations on mobile devices to ensure accurate alerts regarding missile attacks and air raid warnings. Concurrently, the IDF has urged Israelis not to engage in panic buying, stating, "There is no need to buy generators, stock up on food, and withdraw cash from ATMs," wrote IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari on X.