REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft has dismissed four employees after on-site protests against the company's ties to Israel, escalating tensions between staff activism and corporate policy at one of the world's largest tech firms.

Two of those fired, Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli, said they were notified via voicemail of their termination. They were part of a sit-in at the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith earlier this week. The activist group No Azure for Apartheid, which confirmed the firings, said two other employees, Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan, were also dismissed after taking part in encampments at Microsoft headquarters.

The company defended its actions, saying the workers violated conduct rules. "Recent on-site demonstrations created significant safety concerns," Microsoft said in a Thursday statement.

The protests are part of a broader campaign led by No Azure for Apartheid, which calls on Microsoft to end its business ties with Israel and compensate Palestinians. "We are here because Microsoft continues to provide Israel with the tools it needs to commit genocide while gaslighting and misdirecting its own workers about this reality," Hattle said in a statement released by the group.

On Tuesday, Hattle and Fameli were among seven people arrested for occupying Smith's office, though five of those detained were not current Microsoft employees. Smith has previously said the company respects "freedom of expression that everyone in this country enjoys as long as they do it lawfully."

The protests follow a media investigation earlier this month by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call, which reported that an Israeli military surveillance agency had been using Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to store mass phone call recordings from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Microsoft has since asked law firm Covington & Burling LLP to review the claims.

This is not the first time employee activism has clashed with management. In April, two Microsoft workers were fired after interrupting remarks by AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman at the company's 50th anniversary celebration with pro-Palestinian protests.

Tech companies, universities, and cultural institutions have increasingly faced demonstrations over partnerships with Israel amid the mounting humanitarian toll in Gaza. The war, sparked by Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, has since led to tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths, widespread displacement, and international legal battles over allegations of war crimes, charges Israel denies.