Meta has closed its offices in Tel Aviv temporarily amid the ongoing Israel-Iran war, according to a report by The Information. The report notes that the tech giant has around 900 employees in Tel Aviv that will be affected by the decision.
The Mark Zuckerberg-led company reportedly informed its employees about the office closure in a memo, writing, “We understand that not everyone has access to a shelter or safe room at home during these challenging times.”
“This has led to distressing experiences for a number of our employees, and we have been looking into ways we can support you,” it added.
The company is said to have assured its employees that it would provide hotel stays (for up to 5 days) to people who did not have access to a bomb shelter.
Prior to the Meta office shutdown, other tech giants had also reportedly taken action to secure their employees’ safety and closed their offices across various regions in the Middle East. Nvidia had reportedly closed its offices in Dubai and asked employees to work from home.
Meanwhile, Amazon has also asked its employees in the Middle East to work remotely and “follow local government guidelines,” as per a CNBC report.
Social media platform Snap also told the publication that it has asked its employees across four Middle East offices to work remotely.
Earlier this month, three Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities were also hit by drone strikes by Iran, two in the UAE and one in Bahrain.
The data centres sustained structural damage and went offline while AWS applications like virtual server and database services experienced issues.
AWS had warned that the recovery will be ‘prolonged’ due to structural harm, power loss and water damage. The company had also encouraged its customers to back up their data or consider migrating it to other regions.
Impact of Iran strikes on Tel Aviv:
The Tel Aviv office is said to have been set up by the company in 2013 with a focus on research and development work. The office is said to play a key role in building technology related to the development of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) products for the company.
As per the latest figures released by the Israeli Ministry of Health, a total of 191 individuals sustained serious injuries during the last 24 hours amid the ongoing hostilities with Iran. As per The Times of Israel, since the beginning of the war with Iran from 28 February, 2,339 people have been admitted to hospitals
