Microsoft Disables Azure and AI Services Used by Israeli Military for Mass Surveillance in Gaza
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The Guardian recently reported that a division of Israel’s Ministry of Defense had been using Microsoft Azure and AI services to conduct mass surveillance on residents of Gaza, deploying measures across network and communications layers to collect all citizens’ call records and conversations.
Specifically, Unit 8200 of the Israeli military was said to have leveraged customized Microsoft cloud services to store millions of daily phone calls placed in Gaza and the West Bank, subsequently analyzing both the call metadata and the conversations themselves to extract up-to-date intelligence.
Similar concerns had surfaced earlier in 2025, though at that time Microsoft stated that its internal investigation found no evidence that the Israeli military had violated its terms of service or used Microsoft technologies to target or harm Palestinian civilians.
However, following the Guardian’s release of further investigative evidence, Microsoft was compelled to reopen its review. The company has now disclosed the outcome: several Azure cloud and AI services used by the Israeli Ministry of Defense have been disabled.
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith stressed that Microsoft is neither a government nor a state, reiterating the company’s long-standing policy that its technologies must not be employed for mass civilian surveillance.
The company further emphasized that it never accessed any data stored by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, limiting its review to business records, financial statements, and internal communications, without examining the specific communications content collected by Israel.
It is notable, however, that the investigation did not clarify whether internal Microsoft teams had engaged in misconduct. The Guardian’s earlier reporting suggested that multiple Microsoft teams were involved in projects linked to the Israeli military, raising questions as to whether senior executives could have remained unaware for such an extended period.
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- Microsoft’s Azure Used for Mass Surveillance in Gaza and West Bank
- Israel uses Pegasus spyware to track hostages in Gaza
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