"Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians", 25 September 2025

Microsoft has terminated the Israeli military’s access to technology it used to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank...

Microsoft told Israeli officials...that Unit 8200...had violated the company’s terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure cloud platform, sources familiar with the situation said.

The decision to cut off Unit 8200’s ability to use some of its technology results directly from an investigation published...last month...

In a joint investigation with...+972 Magazine and...Local Call, the Guardian revealed how Microsoft and Unit 8200 had worked together on a plan to move large volumes of sensitive intelligence material into Azure...

In response to the investigation, Microsoft ordered an urgent external inquiry to review its relationship with Unit 8200. Its initial findings have now led the company to cancel the unit’s access to some of its cloud storage and AI services...

According to several sources, the enormous repository of intercepted calls...was held in a Microsoft datacentre in the Netherlands. Within days of the Guardian publishing the investigation, Unit 8200 appears to have swiftly moved the surveillance data out of the country...

Intelligence sources said Unit 8200 planned to transfer the data to the Amazon Web Services cloud platform. Neither the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) nor Amazon responded to a request for comment...

On Thursday, Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, informed staff of the decision. In an email...he said the company had “ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israel ministry of defense”, including cloud storage and AI services.

Smith wrote: “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians. We have applied this principle in every country around the world, and we have insisted on it repeatedly for more than two decades.”...

According to a document seen by the Guardian, a senior Microsoft executive told Israel’s ministry of defence late last week: “While our review is ongoing, we have at this juncture identified evidence that supports elements of the Guardian’s reporting.”

The executive told Israel officials that Microsoft “is not in the business of facilitating the mass surveillance of civilians” and notified them that it would “disable” access to services that supported the Unit 8200 surveillance project and suspend its use of some AI products.

The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza.

The decision has not affected Microsoft’s wider commercial relationship with the IDF, which is a longstanding client and will retain access to other services...