Verily, Alphabet’s life-sciences company and a Google sister company, announced in June 2024 that it was beginning to close its research-and-development center in Tel Aviv and Haifa. The company said its Israeli team—estimated in reporting at about 25 to 30 people—was expected to leave by the end of the third quarter. Separate Israeli coverage described October 2024 as the target for the closure. Verily attributed the move to a strategic refocus and operational streamlining, and said work from the center would continue at U.S. sites.
What Verily announced—and what the announcement did not establish
The announcement concerned Verily’s Israeli R&D center, not the shutdown of Verily worldwide or the end of Google and Alphabet operations in Israel. Verily is an Alphabet company; Alphabet is Google’s parent. The center operated in Tel Aviv and Haifa and had opened in 2021. Globes’ closure report and Calcalist’s account of the company statement described a planned exit, not a verified date when every employee, lease, or legal entity had ended.
Verily announced the process on June 29, 2024. Calcalist reported that the Israeli team was expected to leave by the end of the third quarter; Globes described the center as closing in October. Those accounts may refer to different stages of the wind-down, and the available reporting does not settle the exact final date.
Why Verily said it was closing the center
Verily attributed the decision to an ongoing review of business needs, a focus on core products, and broader efforts to streamline operations. The company said the Israel-Gaza war played no part in the decision. That is Verily’s stated position; public reporting does not independently establish every factor in the company’s internal deliberations. CTech reported the company’s explanation, as did Ynet News.
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The timing made the war an obvious question, but the available evidence does not support presenting it as the cause. Nor does it establish the opposite as an independently verified account of all internal considerations. There is no substantiated basis in the cited coverage to describe the closure as a political protest, a security response, or retaliation for employee activism.
What happened to the Israeli team
Reports put the affected workforce at roughly 25 to 30 people. Globes cited about 25 employees, while CTech described approximately 30 remaining employees. These are estimates, not an audited headcount, and should not be collapsed into an exact figure.
Verily said the Israeli team was expected to leave the company. The public accounts cited here do not specify severance terms, individual transfers, or the precise employment process, so it is more accurate to say employees were affected by the planned closure than to claim every person was formally fired.
What the center worked on, and what was to continue
Coverage described the center’s work as applying computing and artificial intelligence to biomedical problems, including medical imaging and minimally invasive surgery. Verily said the Israeli team had produced important innovations and that the work would continue at U.S.-based sites. The announcement therefore described a relocation or continuation of work within Verily’s broader operation, not the end of those research areas. The reporting does not establish that the center created a particular commercial product.
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Why Verily opened an Israeli center in 2021
Verily established its Israeli R&D presence in 2021, with offices in Tel Aviv and Haifa and leadership linked to Technion professor Ehud Rivlin, who had previously worked with Google Health. The launch drew on Israel’s technology, medical, and AI talent. At the time, international interest in Israeli health data was also heightened by the country’s COVID-19 vaccination and health-record experience. Globes’ 2021 launch coverage describes the center and its leadership.
Later Israeli business reporting suggested that health-data access was more fragmented and expensive for companies than some had initially expected. That is context, not a confirmed explanation from Verily for this closure; the evidence does not show that data-access costs caused the decision.
How the closure fits Verily’s wider strategy
The Israeli announcement followed earlier changes at Verily. In January 2023, the company reportedly cut about 15% of its workforce. In March 2024, it reportedly closed a U.S. molecular-biology development facility. Verily’s own 2023 communication described a plan to refine its strategy, prioritize its product portfolio, simplify its operating model, and concentrate more closely on precision health, data, and evidence. The company’s statement is available in Verily’s “One Verily Forward” communication.
This background makes the Israel closure consistent with a broader pattern of narrowing priorities, but Verily did not publicly identify it as part of a single global layoff program. Reporting also described Verily as having raised approximately $3.5 billion and pursuing greater independence, potentially including an IPO. That possibility was reported strategic context, not a filed or scheduled public offering, and the cited evidence does not establish that an IPO plan drove the closure.
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