A new UN report has exposed how some of the world’s biggest tech companies are directly linked to the ongoing assault on Gaza. The report, titled “From the Economy of Occupation to the Economy of Genocide,” outlines how surveillance systems, AI-powered tools, and cloud computing infrastructure have become central to Israel’s military campaign. While much of the public conversation focuses on airstrikes and physical destruction, the report brings attention to the invisible but powerful role of digital technologies in enabling mass violence.
At the heart of this system are well-known companies like NSO Group, Palantir, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM, and HP. These firms have either developed or supported the technologies used to monitor, track, and target Palestinians. The report argues that Israel has turned the occupied Palestinian territory into a testing ground for surveillance tools that are later sold and exported around the world.
NSO Group, for instance, developed the controversial Pegasus spyware, which has been used to spy on Palestinian activists. It has also been licensed to governments across the globe, targeting journalists and human rights defenders. IBM and HP have played a key role in maintaining Israel’s population database, which stores biometric information used to control Palestinian movement. Microsoft has long provided services to Israel’s police and prison systems, while also integrating its technologies into the Israeli military’s operations. Palantir’s battlefield software helps process real-time data, supporting the military’s ability to track and kill.
Google and Amazon, through their joint contract known as Project Nimbus, are supplying Israel with cloud computing and AI capabilities. These services support the Israeli Ministry of Defense and other state institutions, giving them advanced tools to manage surveillance and targeting. In October 2023, when Israel’s internal military cloud system reportedly crashed, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft stepped in to provide backup support, effectively helping continue the assault on Gaza. One Israeli colonel even described cloud technologies as “a weapon in every sense of the word.”
The report also highlights how artificial intelligence is now deeply embedded in modern warfare. Systems like Lavender and Gospel, developed and deployed by the Israeli military, are designed to process vast amounts of data and automatically generate kill lists. These AI tools have been used to identify targets at scale, contributing to the destruction and death toll in Gaza. The UN report says this is not just a new phase of surveillance, it is an algorithmic warfare.
These technologies don’t operate in isolation. They are part of a larger digital infrastructure of occupation and control that has existed for years. What has changed since October 2023 is the scale, speed, and intensity of their use. The tools once used for monitoring and restricting movement are now enabling real-time targeting and destruction.
This shift has alarming implications for the global digital rights community. Technologies developed and tested on Palestinians are already being exported. Similar surveillance systems have been deployed in Kashmir, at European borders, and by authoritarian regimes against dissidents. What’s happening in Gaza offers a glimpse into how digital repression works and how it spreads.
The report also calls for accountability. It urges governments and international bodies to push companies to disclose their contracts with military and surveillance agencies. It also warns that tech companies cannot hide behind complexity or legal loopholes. If their tools are used in war crimes, they bear responsibility along with the states that allow it.
What this report makes clear is that technology is not neutral. Surveillance, cloud computing, and AI are not just products, they are part of a system of control. When these tools are used to profile, displace, and kill, the companies involved become complicit in the violence. For digital rights advocates, this is a critical moment. The time to speak out, demand transparency, and call for disengagement is now.
