A new United Nations report has accused dozens of major corporations — including firms based in the United States, Europe, and Asia — of contributing to what it describes as Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, warning that corporate complicity has become deeply embedded in the infrastructure of military occupation.
In the sharply worded report presented on Thursday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese alleges that private companies have played a critical role in sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial project through the “economy of occupation” — a model she says has now morphed into an “economy of genocide.”
“While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now genocide,” Albanese wrote. “Commercial endeavours enabling and profiting from the obliteration of innocent people’s lives must cease.”
The 21-page report identifies around 1000 corporate actors and details the involvement of more than 45 entities that were directly informed of allegations; only 15 responded, it said. The companies named span a wide range of industries — from arms manufacturing and tech, to banking, insurance, construction and academic institutions.
The report links some of the world’s largest defence contractors — including Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems, and Israel Aerospace Industries — to the provision of weapons used in Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, the report says, “have been integral to equipping Israel with the unprecedented aerial power to drop an estimated 85,000 tons of bombs” since October 2023.
“Elbit Systems has cooperated closely on Israeli military operations, embedding key staff in the Ministry of Defense,” Albanese wrote. “For Israeli companies such as Elbit and Israel Aerospace Industries, the ongoing genocide has been a profitable venture.”
Other named companies include Microsoft, IBM, HP, Google (Alphabet Inc), Amazon, and Palantir Technologies. The report accuses them of providing cloud infrastructure, biometric surveillance, data analytics, and artificial intelligence technologies that support Israel’s population control systems and military operations.
In one example, Albanese wrote: “Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. have granted Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and AI technologies… In October 2023, when the Israeli internal military cloud overloaded, Microsoft and the Project Nimbus consortium stepped in with critical cloud and AI infrastructure.”
The report describes the use of artificial intelligence by the Israeli military to generate target lists and warns of the dangers of automated warfare. “There are reasonable grounds to believe Palantir has provided predictive policing technology and real-time battlefield integration tools,” it says.
“Israel’s military assault on Gaza is being supercharged by foreign corporations,” Albanese said. “Their contributions — whether in weapons, surveillance, logistics or finance — are what enable the current level of destruction.”
Albanese also accused financial institutions — including pension funds, asset managers, and insurers — of channelling capital into illegal settlement construction and extractive industries in the West Bank and Gaza, calling it a “matrix of complicity.”
She urged national authorities to begin criminal and civil proceedings against companies and executives found to be materially aiding international crimes. “Corporate entities must refuse to be complicit in human rights violations and international crimes or be held to account,” the report states.
The report follows recent findings by the International Court of Justice, which ordered Israel in January to refrain from acts of genocide and reminded all states of their obligations not to transfer arms that could be used to violate international law.
The Israeli government has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide, blaming Hamas for civilian casualties and alleging that the group uses Palestinian populations as human shields. However, Israel has not provided evidence to substantiate this claim, while multiple videos have surfaced showing Israeli forces using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Additionally, testimonies from several Western doctors who volunteered in Gaza report that Israeli snipers are deliberately targeting children, further exposing Israel’s human shield narrative as false and highlighting the direct harm inflicted on innocent civilians.
The report concluded: “This is not simply about Gaza. This is about the global system that allows corporate profit to trump human dignity. Dismantling that system is essential if we are to prevent further atrocity.”