Leaked documents suggest that Microsoft deepened its relationship with Israel's military during the Israel/Gaza war.

As reported by The Guardian, Microsoft supplied Israel's defense services with at least $10 million in computing and storage services throughout the conflict.

Gaza / israel
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The Guardian conducted an investigation with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew outlet Local Call. The report is partly based on documents obtained by Drop Site News.

According to The Guardian report, after launching an offensive in Gaza in October 2023 following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rapidly increased its demand for storage and computing power. Google has also been linked with the Israeli military, having offered its AI technology to the groups.

The documents include commercial records from Israel's defense ministry and files from Microsoft's Israeli subsidiary. They suggest that Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform was used across Israel's air, ground, and naval forces, and by its intelligence department.

Furthermore, the documents show that while some of this was for administrative purposes, The Guardian reports that it was also used to help with combat and intelligence activities. The Guardian also conducted interviews with sources from across Israel’s defense and intelligence establishment.

Microsoft staff also reportedly worked closely with the IDF’s intelligence directorate, including its elite surveillance division, Unit 8200. The company allegedly also gave the Israeli military access to OpenAI's GPT-4 model after OpenAI changed its policy against working with military and intelligence customers in January 2024. A spokesperson for OpenAI told The Guardian: “OpenAI does not have a partnership with the IDF.”

DCD has contacted OpenAI for further comment.

Further reported uses of Microsoft's offerings include a system by the Israeli security forces to manage the population registry and movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and Microsoft's suite of communications and messaging systems by the air force unit responsible for managing databases of potential targets for lethal strikes.

The documents cited span from October 2023, to the end of June 2024. Analysis suggests that the average use of Microsoft Azure's cloud storage facilities in the first six months of the war was 60 percent higher than the four months leading up to it, and consumption of AI and machine learning tools was 64 times greater than in September 2023.

Both Microsoft and the IDF declined to comment to The Guardian.

DCD has also reached out to Microsoft for input.

Microsoft notably lost out on the 2021 Project Nimbus contract by the Israeli government, which was instead awarded to Google and Amazon Web Services.

Al Jazeera estimates that since October 7, 2023, more than 46,700 Palestinians have been killed. Israel and Gaza reached a ceasefire agreement on January 15, 2025.