Faced with rising tensions between Iran and Israel, the Israeli army has reportedly decided to jam certain GPS signals throughout its territory.
In recent days, people using Waze, Google Maps, and Moovit, among other location-based programs, reported GPS outages throughout the central region of Israel, with maps indicating that users are in Beirut even though they really are in Tel Aviv, according to several Israeli media outlets, such as the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post.
The GPS disruptions have reportedly reached the heart of Israel, according to Israeli Army Radio. Residents of central Tel Aviv report that their GPS is currently locating them in Beirut. According to Israeli sites, there could be a build-up to an impending attack on the Israel. pic.twitter.com/15wOEdN4Yr
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According to other reports, the location shown on mobile devices was Cairo, the capital of Egypt.
Numerous disruptions had already been reported in northern Israel and in areas close to Gaza, but they remained rare in central Israel.
The disturbances in Tel Aviv come as the Israeli army prepares for a possible Iranian response to their strike against an annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus. In anticipation, the army has reinforced its air defense system and called up reservists as reinforcements, while vacations have been suspended for all army forces.
Delivery and transport applications such as Wolt and Gett also warned of disruptions.
