Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr told AP they received phone calls notifying them of their termination late on Thursday, just a few hours after the lunchtime event they had organized at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.

The two employees asserted that Thursday’s event was akin to other Microsoft-sanctioned fundraising campaigns for people in need.

“We have so many community members within Microsoft who have lost family, lost friends or loved ones,” said Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist.

“But Microsoft really failed to have the space for us where we can come together and share our grief and honour the memories of people who can no longer speak for themselves,” he added.

Mohamed must now find a new job within two months to transfer his work visa and avoid deportation from the US.

For his part, Nasr said the purpose of the vigil was both “to honour the victims of the Palestinian genocide in Gaza and to call attention to Microsoft’s complicity in the genocide” because of the use of its technology by the Israeli military.

Nasr, a co-organizer of Harvard Alumni for Palestine and a recent Harvard graduate, learned of his firing from the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism on social media more than an hour before he received official notification from Microsoft.

Mohamed and Nasr were part of a coalition known as “No Azure for Apartheid,” which has opposed Microsoft’s provision of cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government.

Microsoft stated on Friday that it has "terminated the employment of certain individuals in line with internal policy," but did not provide further details.

Israel's war has resulted in the deaths of nearly 43,000 Palestinians since it began, according to Palestine's Health Ministry, with the majority of the fatalities being women and children.

The offensive has devastated much of the impoverished coastal territory, displacing around 90 percent of its 2.3 million residents, often multiple times. 

Hundreds of thousands have been forced into overcrowded tent camps along the coast, and aid groups report a widespread hunger crisis.

Since 7 October 2023, global companies have investigated or terminated employees for protesting against support and cooperation with Israel in its war against Gaza.

In February, veteran Egyptian journalist Sally Nabil was suspended and referred for investigation for allegedly violating the BBC’s social media policies by liking anti-Israeli tweets on the platform X.

The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate’s board has demanded that BBC reverse its suspension and investigation into Nabil.

Nabil has been a veteran journalist at BBC and a member of the Journalists Syndicate.

Earlier this year, Google terminated over 50 workers in response to protests regarding the technology the company is providing to the Israeli government during the Gaza war.