U.S. tech giant Microsoft has been accused of aiding the Israeli military’s surveillance of Palestinians by hosting a mass phone-call interception system used by Israeli intelligence on its Azure cloud platform.
According to an investigation by The Guardian, Microsoft has provided cloud infrastructure for an Israeli military intelligence unit that collects and stores millions of phone calls from Gaza and the occupied West Bank every day, in a mass surveillance programme that critics say may violate international law.
The system is allegedly operated by Unit 8200, Israel’s cyber-intelligence division, and has been running since at least 2022. Sources said it is capable of intercepting “a million calls an hour” and feeds directly into Israel’s military targeting and arrest operations.
The intercepted data, believed to include audio from landline and mobile phones, VoIP services, and other communication streams, is processed and stored on Microsoft servers located in Israel, Ireland and the Netherlands.
A former Israeli intelligence official told The Guardian that the purpose of the system was to “track everyone, all the time,” using artificial intelligence to flag certain phrases or voice patterns in real-time. The call data is also reportedly used to identify potential targets for airstrikes and detentions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Complicity and condemnation
Microsoft maintains that it was unaware of how its services were being used by the Israeli military and insists it has “no evidence” that its platforms have been involved in rights violations. However, the company admitted it has “limited visibility” into customer activity once its cloud tools are deployed.
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Human rights groups, Palestinian advocates, and some of Microsoft’s own employees have condemned the company’s role in what they describe as “digital apartheid.” They argue that by facilitating mass surveillance in an active warzone, Microsoft risks complicity in serious human rights abuses.
Brian Eno, the British musician and prominent pro-Palestinian activist, said the revelations further prove that Microsoft is “actively assisting the Israeli war machine” and called on the company to immediately suspend services to Israeli military and intelligence clients.
This is not the first time that U.S. tech companies have been implicated in Israeli operations. Amazon and Google have also faced internal revolts and shareholder actions over their contracts with Israel’s military and government agencies, particularly under the controversial Project Nimbus cloud deal.
Earlier this year, two Microsoft employees were dismissed after organising a vigil in remembrance of Palestinians killed in Gaza and speaking out against the company’s ties to the Israeli state. Staff protests have since evolved into the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign.
A group of shareholders representing millions of dollars in Microsoft stock have also filed resolutions demanding a formal audit into whether the company’s technology has enabled violations of human rights or international humanitarian law. The resolution is expected to be voted on at Microsoft’s December 2025 annual general meeting.
Cloud infrastructure and geopolitics
Critics also highlighted the broader geopolitical consequences of exporting cloud infrastructure to military powers. By hosting sensitive military-grade intelligence operations outside the territory of the client state, tech giants may be bypassing local data protection laws and international oversight mechanisms.
Legal experts say the use of U.S.-based corporate infrastructure to facilitate mass surveillance in occupied territories could expose Microsoft to lawsuits under international humanitarian law, including complicity in war crimes if the intelligence gathered is linked to unlawful targeting or extrajudicial killings.
The Guardian report comes amid growing scrutiny of Israel’s use of artificial intelligence and mass data collection during its ongoing war on Gaza, now in its 22nd month. Israeli officials have boasted about using AI-powered platforms to generate thousands of strike targets a day, most of which have resulted in civilian deaths.
Israel has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the majority of them women and children. The United Nations and international human rights bodies have accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including collective punishment, starvation, and indiscriminate targeting.
Several Palestinian digital rights organisations have called for a global boycott of Microsoft and for cloud providers to be held accountable for facilitating surveillance and targeting of civilians in conflict zones.
As of now, Microsoft has not responded to the growing calls to suspend its services to the occupying Israeli military.
