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Ìýspyware firmÌý has asked Tel AvivÌýto help lift US sanctions placed on it last week, Axios revealed on Thursday evening.

The group's CEO, Shalev Hulio, sent a "secret" letterÌýwith his request to Israeli Prime Minister , which Axios says it obtained,Ìýstating that the sanctions could cause many Israeli job losses within the company.

"[Hulio] wrote that... the US decision... was a result ofÌýan orchestrated campaign by anti-Israeli organisations who want to harm Israeli companies... and stressed thatÌýformal backing by the Israeli government 'is a basic condition'Ìýfor... efforts to lift the USÌýsanctions," Axios reported.

NSO wasÌýÌýearlier this month "for engaging in activity contrary to the [country's]Ìýnational security", based on evidence that their Pegasus spyware was developed and supplied "to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target" officials, journalists andÌýactivists, the US State Department of Commerce said .

The NSO Group'sÌýaddition to the so-called "entity list" means exports to them from US organisations will be restricted, making it harder for American researchers to sell them information or technology.

"We will advocate for this decision to be reversed," a NSO spokesperson told AFP.

A global investigationÌýled by Paris-based journalism group Forbidden StoriesÌýrevealed in July thatÌý of smartphones belonging to Middle Eastern royals, individuals connected to slain Saudi journalist - who was murdered in 2018 by a hit squad -Ìýand French President Emmanuel Macron, among others.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also accused Israel on Thursday of using Pegasus to , after the phones of six Palestinian human rights activists and foreign ministry officials , as confirmed byÌýnon-profit Frontline Defenders in a joint technical report with Amnesty International.

NSO has insisted its software is intended for use only in fighting terrorism and other crimes.