Microsoft on Thursday said it disabled a set of cloud and AI services used by a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense after an internal review found preliminary evidence supporting media reports of a surveillance system in Gaza and the West Bank.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said the company opened the review after an article by the Guardian alleged activity by a unit of the Israel Defense Forces .

A joint investigation published in early August by the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call reported that an Israeli military surveillance agency used Microsoft’s Azure to store large volumes of mobile phone call recordings from Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

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