A joint investigation by The Guardian, Palestinian-Israeli publication +972 Magazine, and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has uncovered that Israel's military intelligence agency, Unit 8200, has been using Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to store and process vast amounts of intercepted Palestinian phone call data.
Following a 2021 meeting between Unit 8200 commander Yossi Sariel and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a segregated Azure environment was established to house "sensitive workloads."
Internal documents and interviews indicate that Microsoft employees worked closely with Israeli military contractors to build a custom security architecture for the project, with some describing daily collaboration. This infrastructure allowed Unit 8200 to store and process intercepted audio at an unprecedented scale.
Operational since 2022, the system allegedly stores millions of calls daily, which intelligence sources say have been instrumental in guiding airstrikes, blackmail, detentions, and post facto justifications for killings in Gaza and the West Bank.
The system reportedly underpins a suite of AI-driven targeting algorithms developed under Sariel’s command, which have been deployed to guide air strikes and operations, significantly expanding the Israeli military’s surveillance and strike capabilities.
While Microsoft denies knowledge of the call data or consulting on surveillance systems, internal documents and sources suggest close collaboration, including daily interactions for building custom security infrastructure.
As of July 2025, more than 11,500 terabytes of Israeli military data, equivalent to approximately 200 million hours of audio, were stored in Azure data centres in the Netherlands and Ireland, according to the investigation.
“Armed with Azure’s near-limitless storage capacity, Unit 8200 began building a powerful new mass surveillance tool: a sweeping and intrusive system that collects and stores recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” as per The Guardian.
The publication reported that a cache of leaked Microsoft documents and interviews with 11 sources from the company and Israeli military intelligence revealed how Azure has been used by Unit 8200 “to store this expansive archive of everyday Palestinian communications.”
According to three Unit 8200 sources, the cloud-based storage platform “has facilitated the preparation of deadly airstrikes and has shaped military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.”
The cloud-based system pioneered by Sariel “has been put to frequent use alongside a series of AI-driven target recommendation tools also developed on his watch and debuted by the military in a campaign that has devastated civilian life and created a profound humanitarian crisis,” added The Guardian.
Sources also revealed that some Microsoft employees raised ethical concerns over the use of Azure for military surveillance and potential war crimes. However, those who voiced objections were allegedly ignored or reassigned.
Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its destructive war on Gaza, where more than 61,100 people have been killed since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
