Israeli Army Utilizes Major Tech Giants for Data Storage in Gaza Incursion

The Israeli military has been utilizing Amazon’s cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI) tools from Microsoft and Google for military operations amid escalating data collection on Palestinians and Gaza, according to reports by +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language news site Local Call.

An audio recording obtained by these outlets reveals that Col. Racheli Dembinsky, commander of the Israeli army’s Center of Computing and Information Systems Unit, disclosed the use of these technologies during a presentation to around 100 military and industry personnel on July 10. The Center oversees all data processing for the Israeli army.

Dembinsky’s presentation, which marked the first public acknowledgment of this practice, detailed the army’s use of cloud storage and AI services from major tech companies in its ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip since October 7. The logos of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure appeared on her lecture slides, which highlighted the army’s “operational cloud” typically stored on internal military servers.

Dembinsky described this internal cloud as a “weapons platform,” featuring applications for targeting, live drone footage over Gaza, and fire, command, and control systems. She noted that following the Israeli army’s ground invasion of Gaza in late October 2023, “the internal military systems quickly became overloaded due to the enormous number of soldiers and military personnel who were added to the platform as users, causing technical problems that threatened to impair Israel’s military operations,” according to +972 Magazine.

Cloud services have enhanced Israel’s operational efficiency in Gaza, Dembinsky said, highlighting the advantage of unlimited storage and advanced AI capabilities provided by these services. While she did not specify the services purchased or their exact role, the Israeli army assured +972 Magazine and Local Call that classified information and attack systems stored on internal servers were not transferred to public cloud platforms.

However, detailed investigations by +972 Magazine and Local Call revealed that the Israeli army stores some intelligence gathered through mass surveillance of Gaza’s population on AWS servers. The research also uncovered that various cloud providers have supplied numerous AI capabilities to the Israeli military since the start of the Gaza incursion.

The investigation involved sources from the Israeli Ministry of Defence, the arms industry, three cloud storage companies, and seven Israeli intelligence officers. Sources indicated that the Israeli army relies on private sector resources to bolster its technological capacity in Gaza operations.

Intelligence sources described the army’s relationship with Amazon as “particularly close,” with AWS providing a server farm for the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate. This system offers “endless storage” for intelligence on nearly “everyone” in Gaza, which is essential given the vast amount of data collected through surveillance.

In 2021, Google and Amazon signed a $1.2 billion contract, Project Nimbus, with the Israeli government to transition information systems to their public cloud servers. Since October, the Israeli army has significantly increased its use of services from Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, primarily through the Nimbus contract.

Sources noted that while Microsoft Azure was initially Israel’s primary cloud provider for classified information, Amazon offered a more competitive price, leading to Amazon’s increased role. Amazon’s aggressive competition with Microsoft has been evident, as the company aims to become the military’s leading cloud service provider.

Amazon has recently collaborated with security agencies in the US, UK, and Australia, with Australia investing $1.3 billion in an Amazon cloud for “top secret” intelligence material. Google and Microsoft declined to comment on the investigation, but Amazon Web Services stated, “AWS is focused on making the benefits of our world-leading cloud technology available to all our customers, wherever they are located.”