The Guardian: Israel's military used AI to select targets linked to Hamas

The Israel Defense Forces used artificial intelligence technology to select targets for airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, reported from the Guardian.

The testimony from the six intelligence officers, all of whom have been involved in using AI systems to identify Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targets in the war, was given to journalist Yuval Abraham. Their accounts were shared exclusively with the Guardian in advance of publication.

All six said that Lavender had played a central role in the war, processing masses of data to rapidly identify potential "junior” operatives to target.

Four of the sources said that, at one stage early in the war, Lavender listed as many as 37,000 Palestinian men who had been linked by the AI system to Hamas or PIJ.

Lavender was developed by the Israel Defense Forces’ elite intelligence division, Unit 8200, which is comparable to the US’s National Security Agency or GCHQ in the UK.

After randomly sampling and cross-checking its predictions, the unit concluded Lavender had achieved a 90% accuracy rate, the sources said, leading the IDF to approve its sweeping use as a target recommendation tool.

Two sources said that during the early weeks of the war they were permitted to kill 15 or 20 civilians during airstrikes on low-ranking militants. Attacks on such targets were typically carried out using unguided munitions known as "dumb bombs”, the sources said, destroying entire homes and killing all their occupants.
Responding to the publication of the testimonies in +972 and Local Call, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that its operations were carried out in accordance with the rules of proportionality under international law. It said dumb bombs are "standard weaponry” that are used by IDF pilots in a manner that ensures "a high level of precision”.





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