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Reports from +972 Magazine and Local Call reveal that the Israeli army has been utilizing cloud services and AI tools from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google for military purposes in Gaza. This information came to light through an audio recording of a presentation by Col Racheli Dembinsky, commander of the Israeli army’s Center of Computing and Information Systems Unit.
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Dembinsky’s presentation, given to military and industrial personnel on July 10, confirmed the army’s use of these technologies in its Gaza operations since October 7. The slides displayed logos of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, highlighting their role in the army’s “operational cloud.”
The Israeli army reportedly turned to these services due to the overload of internal military systems following the ground invasion of Gaza in late October 2023. Dembinsky emphasized that cloud services from these tech firms offer unlimited storage and advanced AI capabilities, providing “significant operational effectiveness” in Gaza.
While the Israeli army stated that classified information and attack systems remain on internal servers, the investigation uncovered that some intelligence gathered through mass surveillance of Gaza’s population is stored on Amazon’s AWS servers.
Sources indicated a particularly close cooperation between the Israeli army and Amazon, with AWS providing a server farm for storing large-scale intelligence. The vast amount of data collected reportedly aids in confirming aerial assassination strikes in Gaza.
The investigation also revealed an increase in cloud service purchases by the Israeli army since October, primarily through the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract signed with Google and Amazon in 2021.
Microsoft Azure was initially Israel’s main cloud provider for classified information, but Amazon has been aggressively competing to become the military’s top service provider.
Google and Microsoft declined to comment on the investigation, while Amazon Web Services stated their focus on making cloud technology available to all customers.
This report raises questions about the role of tech companies in military operations and the ethical implications of their services being used in conflict zones.
