Which companies are fuelling Israel's war on Gaza?

A new United Nations report has found that dozens of global companies are profiting from Israel's military campaign and occupation of Palestinian territories.

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese's damning 27‑page document, due to be formally presented in Geneva this week, warned that their involvement risks complicity in the "economy of genocide".

The report identifies over 60 companies, many based in the United States and Europe, as directly or indirectly supporting Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza and its long-standing illegal occupation of the West Bank.

Among the named firms are US technology giants Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, IBM, and Palantir Technologies.

Albanese said the companies had supplied cloud computing, surveillance systems, and artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli military and government that enhance their ability to monitor, detain, and target Palestinians.

'An economy of genocide'

"[Israel's] forever-occupation has become the ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and Big Tech – providing significant supply and demand, little oversight, and zero accountability – while investors and private and public institutions profit freely," the report said. "Companies are no longer merely implicated in occupation – they may be embedded in an economy of genocide."

The report also found "reasonable grounds" to believe these technologies have supported predictive policing systems and automated targeting tools used during the war on Gaza.

Software company Palantir is flagged for its suspected role in powering platforms such as "Lavender" and "Where’s Daddy?", AI systems allegedly used to generate battlefield targets, including through automated data processing.

Meanwhile, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are mentioned as providing Israel "virtually government-wide access" to advanced data processing systems that underpin both military operations and the discriminatory permit regime Palestinians face under occupation.

Military arms companies involved

The report also scrutinises the global arms industry, accusing Lockheed Martin, Leonardo S.p.A, and Elbit Systems of supplying Israel with the F-35 fighter jets and other weapons used in Israel’s air campaign against Palestinians.

It comes as Israel’s military budget surged by 65 per cent in the past year to reach $46.5 billion, one of the highest per capita globally, with much of that revenue flowing to foreign defence contractors.

Other companies like Caterpillar, HD Hyundai, and Volvo are also mentioned for their role in supplying the heavy machinery used to demolish Palestinian homes and expand illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Rental platforms Booking.com and Airbnb are also named for continuing to list properties in Israeli-occupied territory, a practice Albanese refers to as "humanitarian-washing" following Airbnb’s decision to donate profits from these listings rather than halt them entirely.

Fintech and energy firms supporting the occupation

A separate section of the report details how international finance and energy firms, including BNP Paribas, Barclays, Glencore, and Drummond, have provided critical capital and resources for Israel’s economy during the war.

Global asset managers BlackRock and Vanguard are listed as top shareholders in many of the companies involved, from Microsoft and Amazon to Caterpillar and Lockheed Martin.

Albanese suggests this financial backing has helped Israel weather its recent credit downgrade and continue deadly operations in Gaza uninterrupted.

In the report, Albanese said that "colonial endeavours and their associated genocides have historically been driven and enabled by the corporate sector". Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land is cited as an example of "colonial racial capitalism", where corporate entities profit from an illegal occupation.

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, “entities that previously enabled and profited from Palestinian elimination and erasure within the economy of occupation, instead of disengaging, are now involved in the economy of genocide,” the report added.

The report comes after a July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which ruled that Israel’s prolonged presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem must end “as rapidly as possible”.

In response, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding Israeli withdrawal by September 2025.

Albanese argues that continued economic support for the occupation following the ruling may now amount to complicity in crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The report called on states to ban arms sales and trade that sustain the occupation and urges firms to conduct urgent human rights due diligence or divest altogether.

It also warned that private companies and individual executives could face criminal liability in international courts if they are found to be aiding and abetting human rights violations. Israel has dismissed the report as politically motivated and legally baseless, while the United States accused Albanese of engaging in "economic warfare" against American firms.

Albanese is expected to brief the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva later this week.