Microsoft halts services to Israeli military unit amid probe into surveillance of Palestinians

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1. >Sept 25 (Reuters) – Microsoft [(MSFT.O)](https://www.reuters.com/markets/companies/MSFT.O)[, opens new tab](https://www.reuters.com/markets/companies/MSFT.O) said on Thursday it has disabled some services used by an Israeli military unit after preliminary evidence supported a media investigation that reported mass surveillance of Palestinian phone calls

   >A [joint investigation](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud)[, opens new tab](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud) published in August by the Guardian and other media outlets found that an Israeli military agency was making use of Microsoft’s Azure software to store countless recordings of mobile phone calls made by Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

   >”We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” Microsoft President Brad Smith [said in a company blog](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/09/25/update-on-ongoing-microsoft-review/)[, opens new tab](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/09/25/update-on-ongoing-microsoft-review/.The) review is ongoing, but details of the Israel Ministry of Defense’s (IMOD) consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services supported the Guardian’s reporting, he said.

   >The decision to “cease and disable” specific IMOD subscriptions, including the use of specific cloud storage and AI services, would not impact Microsoft’s cybersecurity services to Israel and other countries in the Middle East, he added.

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