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While normal navigation apps try to find the fastest route, Palestinian digital networks focus on avoiding risks.

“This is a collective effort to save lives,” Mohamed Atiyat, a minibus driver who participates in and manages WhatsApp groups where thousands share real-time road updates, told Rest of World. “We share minute-by-minute updates on road conditions through videos, voice notes, and text messages so we can help each other stay safe.”

Atiyat’s experience shows what’s at stake — he once spent 36 hours trying to find a route to the hospital for a young cancer patient after the town of Al-Auja was sealed off.

OpenStreetMap (OSM), a collaborative, open-source mapping platform, allows communities to document and update local geographical situations. It allows Palestinians to accurately represent their villages, roads, and barriers that might otherwise be misrepresented or entirely absent on regular navigation tools such as Google Maps and Waze.