The Cyber Intelligence Unit of the Israel Elite has stored large volumes of Palestinian telephony intercepted on Microsoft Cloud servers, according to a joint Guardian survey, the +972 magazine and the local call.
The surveillance system, operational since 2022, was built by unit 8200, the secret intelligence branch of the Israeli army. It allows the unit to collect and maintain recordings of millions of daily phone calls from the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The revelations initially reported on Wednesday come from documents and testimonies disclosed from Microsoft of 11 sources, in particular Israeli military information and the company.
According to leaks, a large amount of data seems to be stored on Microsoft Azure servers located in the Netherlands and Ireland, the Guardian reported.
Three sources in unit 8200 said the cloud -based system has helped guide deadly air strikes and operations shaped through occupied Palestinian territories.
Microsoft said that CEO Satya Nadella, who had met the unit 8200 commander, Yossi Sariel, in 2021, was not aware of the nature of the data to be stored. The company said that an internal examination has not revealed “no evidence to date” that Zeure or its artificial intelligence tools (AI) were “used to target or harm people”.
The revelations intervene after the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, published a report mapping the societies helping Israel in its occupation and its war against Gaza.
The report noted that Microsoft, which has operated in Israel since 1991, has built its largest center outside the United States in Israel and began to integrate its technologies through the military, the police, the prisons, the schools and the colonies of the country.
Since 2003, the company has deepened links with Israeli defense, the acquisition of surveillance and cybersecurity start-ups and to integrate its systems into military operations. In 2024, an Israeli colonel called cloud technologies such as those offered by Microsoft “a weapon in all directions”.
The Guardian reported that Microsoft’s internal files have shown that Nadella was offering support for Salr’s goal to move large volumes of military intelligence in the cloud.
A declaration by Microsoft quoted by the Guardian said that it “was not correct” to say that he had provided his personal support for the project.
Microsoft Engineers then worked in close collaboration with Israeli intelligence to integrate safety functionalities in Azure, allowing the transfer of 70% of sensitive data from unit 8200 to the platform.
While Israeli officials claim that technology helps thwart attacks, the sources of unit 8200 have said that the system collects communications without discrimination, which are often used to hold or blackmail the Palestinians. “When they need to stop someone and there is not a pretty good reason … This is where they find the excuse,” said a source.
Some sources have alleged that the stored data had been used to justify detention and even murders.
The expansion of the system has coincided with a broader change in Israeli surveillance, from targeted monitoring to bulk monitoring of the Palestinian population. An AI -based tool would assign risk scores to text messages according to certain trigger words, including discussions on arms or martyrdom.
Saril, who resigned in 2024 after the failure of Israel’s intelligence on October 7, 2023, long defended the cloud -based surveillance.
While the War of Israel against Gaza continues, with more than 61,250 Palestinians killed, including 18,000 children, the surveillance program remains active. Sources have indicated that existing data, combined with AI tools, continues to be used in military operations.
Microsoft said he had “no information” on specific data stored by unit 8200.
