Redmond, 28 Aug

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it has fired two employees allegedly for taking part in a sit-in protest at the company President, Brad Smith’s office.

The protest was against the ties between Microsoft and Israel in the country’s war in Gaza.

According to media reports, the workers were terminated for “serious breach of company policies and code of conduct".

The two employees have been identified as Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli and they were apparently sent voicemails informing them that they were fired, according to the activist group No Azure for Apartheid.

The fired duo was among the seven people arrested on Tuesday for occupying the President’s office. The remaining five included former Microsoft employees.

A recent investigative report revealed that Israeli military surveillance agency was using Microsoft's Azure software to store recordings of mobile phone calls made by Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The investigation had also revealed that Israel relied on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians.

In light of this, members of the ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ activist group and other Microsoft employees have been protesting, asking the company to cut its ties with Israel.