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In the weeks immediately after Hamas\u2019s 7 October surprise attack on Israel, the Israel Defense Forces allegedly intentionally targeted civilian homes and allegedly used an AI-based programme called Lavender to generate targets for assassination, generating scores of bombings based on decisions made with scant human review.<\/p>\n
At one point, the system used mass surveillance in Gaza to generate a list of 37,000 bombing targets, including numerous low-level alleged Hamas operatives who wouldn\u2019t typically be the targets of bombing operations, according to a report.<\/p>\n
The allegations, uncovered by +972 Magazine and Local Call<\/a>, are based on interviews with six Israeli intelligence officers who served during the conflict with Hamas in Gaza and were involved in the use of AI to investigate targets.<\/p>\n One officer said his role in the system was as a mere \u201crubber stamp\u201d on Lavender\u2019s targeting decisions, spending only a few seconds personally reviewing the system\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n The officers also described decisions to go after the scores of Hamas targets in their homes while they were alongside civilians, as the location made it easier to confirm their location with intelligence tools. Planners considering strikes allegedly were willing to allow up to 15 or 20 civilians to be potentially killed in the process of pursuing a single low-level Hamas operative.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,\u201d one of the anonymous officers told the publications. \u201cOn the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It\u2019s much easier to bomb a family\u2019s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAn independent examination by an [intelligence] analyst is required, which verifies that the identified targets are legitimate targets for attack, in accordance with the conditions set forth in IDF directives and international law,\u201d the IDF told the outlets in response to the investigation.<\/p>\n Observers criticised the tactics as inhumane.<\/p>\n Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a fellow at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, called the reports \u201csickening<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Hanna of the Distributed AI Research Institute, meanwhile, wrote<\/a> on X, \u201cThis is sick and the future of AI warfare for US Empire.\u201d<\/p>\n Soldiers often trusted the system more than the judgement of their own grieving colleagues after 7 October, one intelligence officer who used Lavender, which was developed by Israel\u2019s elite Unit 8200, told The Guardian.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is unparalleled, in my memory,\u201d the officer said, adding. \u201cEveryone there, including me, lost people on October 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a> to The Guardian<\/em>, the IDF denied using AI to generate confirmed military targets, and said Lavender was used to \u201ccross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist,\u201d it added. \u201cInformation systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process.\u201d<\/p>\n An estimated 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s campaign in Gaza, according to the territory\u2019s health ministry, the majority of them civilians.<\/p>\n Israel has faced continued scrutiny for the high civilian death toll of its operations, which have targeted residential areas, hospitals, and refugee camps. The IDF says Hamas frequently stations military activities in civilian areas as a means of using human shields.<\/p>\n The IDF\u2019s targeting tactics have come under a new round of international criticism after Israel killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers<\/a> in an airstrike in Gaza on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n