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Business Standard
2 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Microsoft staff protests spark arrests amid review of Israel military ties
Worker-led protests erupted at Microsoft headquarters this week as the tech company promises an urgent review of the Israeli military's use of its technology during the ongoing war in Gaza. A second day of protests at the Microsoft campus on Wednesday called for the tech giant to immediately cut its business ties with Israel. The police department began making arrests after Microsoft said the protesters were trespassing. We said, Please leave or you will be arrested,' and they chose not to leave so they were detained, said police spokesperson Jill Green. Microsoft late last week said it was tapping a law firm to investigate allegations reported by British newspaper The Guardian that the Israeli Defense Forces used Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform to store phone call data obtained through the mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Microsoft's standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage," the company said in a statement posted Friday, adding that the report raises precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review. The company said it will share the findings after law firm Covington & Burling completes its review. The promised review was insufficient for the employee-led No Azure for Apartheid group, which for months has protested Microsoft's supplying the Israeli military with technology used for its war against Hamas in Gaza. In February, The Associated Press revealed previously unreported details about the American tech giant's close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, with military use of commercial AI products skyrocketing by nearly 200 times after the deadly Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The AP reported that the Israeli military uses Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance, which can then be cross-checked with Israel's in-house AI-enabled targeting systems. Following The AP's report, Microsoft acknowledged the military applications but said a review it commissioned found no evidence that its Azure platform and artificial intelligence technologies were used to target or harm people in Gaza. Microsoft did not share a copy of that review or say who conducted it. Microsoft in May fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella to protest the contracts, and in April, fired two others who interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration.
New Indian Express
16 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Israel to mobilize 60,000 reservists ahead of an expanded Gaza City operation
"It's pretty obvious that it will just create another mass displacement of people who have been displaced repeatedly since this phase of the conflict started," United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Associated Press journalists saw small groups heading south from the city this week, but it's unclear how many others will voluntarily flee. Some said they would wait to see how events unfold, with many insisting that nowhere is safe from airstrikes. "What we're seeing in Gaza is nothing short of apocalyptic reality for children, for their families, and for this generation," Ahmed Alhendawi, regional director of Save the Children, said in an interview. "The plight and the struggle of this generation of Gaza is beyond being described in words." Some reservists question the war's goals The call-up comes amid a growing campaign by exhausted reservists who accuse the Israeli government of perpetuating the war for political reasons and failing to bring home the 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The hostages' families and former army and intelligence chiefs have also expressed opposition to the expanded operation in Gaza City. Most of the families want an immediate ceasefire and worry that an expanded assault could imperil the surviving hostages. Guy Poran, a retired air force pilot who has organized veterans campaigning to end the war, said many reservists are spent after repeated tours lasting hundreds of days and resent those who haven't been called up. "Even those that are not ideologically against the current war or the government's new plans don't want to go because of fatigue or their families or their businesses," he said. Hamas-led militants started the war when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Hamas says it will only free the rest in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Time of India
17 minutes ago
- Time of India
Israel says it has taken first steps of military operation in Gaza City
Israel's military announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City on Wednesday and called up tens of thousands of reservists while the government considered a new ceasefire proposal to pause nearly two years of war. "We have begun the preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and already now IDF forces are holding the outskirts of Gaza City," Brigadier General Effie Defrin, Israel's military spokesperson, told reporters. A military official briefing reporters earlier on Wednesday said reserve soldiers would not report for duty until September, an interval that gives mediators some time to bridge gaps between Hamas and Israel over truce terms. But after Israeli troops clashed with Hamas fighters in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office said the Israeli leader sped up the timeline for taking control of Hamas strongholds and defeating the militant group that triggered the conflict with an attack on Israel in October 2023. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Millions May Qualify for FCA Compensation – Are You One? Reclaim 247 Apply Now Undo The Israeli statements signaled Israel was pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza's biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Defrin said troops were already operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, and Hamas was now a "battered and bruised" guerrilla force. "We will deepen the attack on Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organization," the spokesman said. Live Events Israel's military called up tens of thousands of reservists on Wednesday in preparation for the expected assault on Gaza City, as the Israeli government considered a new truce proposal. Hamas, in a statement on Telegram, accused Netanyahu of obstructing the ceasefire deal in favour of continuing a "brutal war against innocent civilians in Gaza City." "Netanyahu's disregard for the mediators' proposal ... proves that he is the real obstructionist of any agreement." Israel's security cabinet, chaired by Netanyahu, approved a plan this month to expand the campaign in Gaza with the aim of taking Gaza City, where Israeli forces waged fierce urban warfare with Hamas in the early stages of the war. Israel currently holds about 75% of the Gaza Strip. Many of Israel's closest allies have urged the government to reconsider, but Netanyahu is under pressure from some far-right members of his coalition to reject a temporary ceasefire, continue the war and pursue the annexation of the territory. One far-right member, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, announced final approval on Wednesday of a widely condemned Israeli plan for a settlement project in the occupied West Bank that he said would erase any prospect of a Palestinian state. The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities near the border, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages including children into Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Over 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's air and ground war in Gaza since then, according to Gaza health officials, who do not say how many were militants but have said most of those killed have been women and children. Hamas has accepted a proposal put forward by Arab mediators for a 60-day ceasefire that would involve releasing some of the remaining hostages and freeing Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The Israeli government, which has said all the 50 remaining hostages must be released at once, is studying the proposal. Israeli authorities believe that 20 hostages are still alive. Many Gazans and foreign leaders fear a storming of Gaza City would cause significant casualties. Israel says it will help civilians leave battle zones before any assault begins. ISRAELI TROOPS, HAMAS FIGHTERS CLASH Israeli troops clashed on Wednesday with more than 15 Hamas militants who emerged from tunnel shafts and attacked with gunfire and anti-tank missiles near Khan Younis, south of Gaza City, severely wounding one soldier and lightly wounding two others, an Israeli military official said. In a statement, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed carrying out a raid on Israeli troops southeast of Khan Younis and engaging Israeli troops at point-blank range. It said one fighter blew himself up among the soldiers, causing casualties, during an attack that lasted several hours. Israel's military campaign has caused widespread devastation across the Gaza Strip, which before the war was home to about 2.3 million Palestinians. Many buildings including homes, schools and mosques have been destroyed, while the military has accused Hamas of operating from within civilian infrastructure, which Hamas denies. Israeli officials have said evacuation orders would be issued to Gaza City residents before any force moves in. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees Gaza's only Catholic Church, located in Gaza City, said it received reports that neighbourhoods near the small parish had started to receive evacuation notices. Hamas, an Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza for almost two decades, has been severely weakened by the war. Hamas has said it would release all remaining hostages in exchange for an end to war. Israel says it will not end the war before Hamas disarms. Opinion polls show strong Israeli public support for ending the war if it ensures the release of the hostages, and a rally in Tel Aviv urging the government to pursue such a deal drew a huge crowd on Saturday. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll of Americans showed a 58% majority believe that every country in the United Nations should recognise Palestine as a nation.
