Israeli officials approached Microsoft in 2021 with plans to move sensitive material into the company’s Azure platform. That meeting led to the creation of a secure zone inside Azure where Unit 8200, Israel’s military intelligence branch, could offload its surveillance data. Sources close to the project said that the system was built to process millions of mobile phone calls each day, storing both content and metadata in cloud data centers located in the Netherlands and Ireland.
The operation emerged after the Israeli military determined that its own servers could not handle the storage demands required for mass surveillance. Microsoft engineers collaborated with Unit 8200 to build a solution tailored to the agency’s technical needs. Security measures were added, and communication between the two teams took place regularly during the deployment phase.
The surveillance covered a wide civilian population, not just targets under investigation. Unit 8200 sources said the goal was to collect as many conversations as possible and keep them available for later review. Calls were usually stored for several weeks but could be retained longer if needed. Because Israel controls the core telecommunications networks in the Palestinian territories, interception was carried out without requiring individual authorizations.
According to reports, the information pulled from this system was used in airstrike planning and arrest operations. Intelligence officers reviewed calls to locate suspects and identify patterns of interest. Some sources indicated the data was also used to pressure individuals or justify arrests when legal grounds were lacking. Another tool developed during this period scanned Palestinian text messages for flagged terms and assigned automatic risk scores.
Microsoft has stated publicly that it had no access to the content being stored and had not been informed that civilian surveillance was taking place. The company ran an internal review, which concluded that no evidence showed Azure or its artificial intelligence tools were used to cause harm. However, documents and interviews suggest that Microsoft engineers were aware that raw audio files were being handled inside the platform.
Senior Israeli officials promoted the partnership as a strategic upgrade in their surveillance capabilities. The former commander of Unit 8200, who led the cloud migration effort, had long advocated for expanding digital monitoring and storing entire populations’ communications. He resigned after criticism over the failure to detect the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023, despite the surveillance tools being in place.
Following that incident, usage of the cloud system reportedly increased. Sources familiar with the operations said the military continued to rely on stored recordings for intelligence, even after physical phone networks in Gaza had been damaged. The system allowed officers to search for past calls of individuals who later became persons of interest.
The Genocide in Gaza has resulted in over 60,000 deaths, with civilian casualties making up the majority. Children account for a large portion of the fatalities. Human rights observers and advocacy groups have raised alarms over the scale of surveillance and the use of commercial cloud services in military intelligence operations. Microsoft is not the only tech company facing questions about its role in Israel’s war efforts, but the size and sensitivity of this system have made it a focal point.
Israeli officials said that their cooperation with private companies complies with legal oversight. Microsoft stated that its engagement involved defensive cybersecurity support and did not include building surveillance software. Records suggest the company expected high revenue from the partnership and considered it a key business milestone.
The recordings held in Microsoft’s servers were taken without permission from those being monitored. The existence of such a large civilian surveillance archive has prompted renewed calls for stronger limits on how cloud technologies are used during armed conflicts.
Notes: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools. Image: DIW-Aigen.
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