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A joint media investigation recently revealed that Israel’s Unit 8200 has been using customized cloud services provided by Microsoft Azure to store millions of daily phone calls made in Gaza and the West Bank—including not only call records but also the contents of the conversations themselves, which were then analyzed for intelligence purposes.
As early as the beginning of 2025, reports had already surfaced indicating that Israeli intelligence agencies relied heavily on Microsoft’s cloud services. At that time, Microsoft conducted an internal review and issued a statement claiming that it had found no evidence of the Israeli military violating its service terms, nor of Azure being used to target or harm the people of Gaza.
Yet such denials now ring hollow in the face of mounting evidence. More recent investigations by international media outlets have further exposed the Israeli military’s use of Microsoft technologies, compelling the company to respond. Microsoft reiterated that its terms of service explicitly prohibit the storage of data obtained through mass surveillance and announced the launch of another internal investigation. This inquiry has been entrusted to lawyers from the U.S. firm Covington & Burling, who will examine how the Israeli military has employed Microsoft’s cloud computing infrastructure.
Whether Microsoft’s senior leadership was aware of these activities is no longer in doubt. Leaked internal documents show that as early as 2021, Microsoft was aware of Unit 8200’s plans to transfer vast quantities of sensitive and classified intelligence data into its cloud services.
According to information disclosed by The Guardian, in November 2021, senior Microsoft executives—including CEO Satya Nadella—attended a meeting at the company’s headquarters during which Unit 8200 commanders discussed migrating as much as 70% of their data to Microsoft’s cloud platform. It is therefore implausible that the company was unaware of the situation.
Insiders familiar with the matter confirmed in interviews that Microsoft’s leadership was indeed concerned about Unit 8200’s use of its services to store sensitive intelligence, including intercepted phone calls that were analyzed to extract information and identify bombing targets in Gaza.
In its most recent statement, Microsoft emphasized that the renewed investigation would scrutinize the commercial agreements struck between the company and the Israeli military. Once the inquiry is concluded, Microsoft pledged to publicly disclose the factual findings of the review.
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