Google and Amazon have teamed up on a $1.2 billion deal called Project Nimbus, which equips Israel's government and military with advanced cloud computing and AI tools. Amidst this, employees linked to the group No Tech For Apartheid have been protesting at Google's offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California.

The tech giant maintains that Project Nimbus "is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services." However, the company has expressed concerns about protesters "physically impeding other employees' work and preventing them from accessing facilities."

The BBC has received confirmation from Google that recent firings have intensified the already strained relations with staff who are against providing technology to Israel's government. Protests, which began last year after the outbreak of conflict in Gaza in October, saw demonstrators carrying signs stating, “No More Genocide For Profit.”

The latest wave of protests escalated to the point where employees occupied offices and wouldn't leave, leading Google to involve law enforcement. The company has denounced the actions as "completely unacceptable."