Welcome to +972’s Sunday Recap! 

In 2021, Google and Amazon signed a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government, known as Project Nimbus, to provide it with advanced cloud computing and AI services — tools that were used during Israel’s two-year onslaught on the Gaza Strip. To secure the lucrative deal, Yuval Abraham revealed in a joint investigation with Local Call and the Guardian, the tech giants agreed to disregard their own terms of service and sidestep legal orders by tipping Israel off if a foreign court demands its data.

Basel Adra reported from the Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta located in what the Israeli army designates as “Firing Zone 918,” a West Bank military training area officially closed to both Palestinians and Israelis. Yet while Palestinians are routinely barred from building or even entering the area, settlers continue to establish and expand outposts there with complete impunity.

Since the ceasefire, the Trump administration has celebrated what it calls a new chapter for Gaza. Yet, Muhammad Shehada argues that Israel is entrenching a new regime of fortified borders, proxy rule, and deliberately manufactured despair. 

Last Sunday, 18-year-old Daniel Schultz was sentenced to an initial 20 days in Israeli military prison for refusing to enlist in mandatory army service. In an interview with Local Call’s Oren Ziv, she described how she grew up believing Israel’s military was ‘the most moral’ in the world — and why army refusal is “the most human thing to do.”

And in northern Gaza, neighborhoods that teemed with life just weeks ago are now rubble and ash, after Israel’s devastating ground invasion. Mohammed and Yousef Zaanoun spoke with and photographed Palestinians searching for a trace of their homes, who, absent any sense of safety, struggle to imagine a future.

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