The Israeli military has utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to identify more than 37,000 potential targets in Gaza, according to intelligence sources. Called Lavender, the AI-powered database processes huge amounts of data to pinpoint individuals supposedly linked to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It was developed by an elite division of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which claims the tool has 90-percent accuracy in identifying people. Since the deployment of Lavender, the Israeli military has allegedly compiled a vast database of low-ranking individuals in Gaza.
Six unnamed Israeli intelligence officials detailed the country’s use of AI to journalist Yuval Abraham for the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine. One of them said the AI tool has made target selection easier in Gaza. Another source claimed that AI was more trustworthy than humans, whose emotions can play a large role in selecting and neutralizing targets. The intelligence sources revealed that Israeli military figures permitted the killing of AI-identified targets in the early days of the war, even at the expense of Palestinian civilians. They also said the IDF usually carried out attacks using bombs dropped in residential areas.
In a written response, the IDF said the “baseless” statements of the six sources reflect a “flawed understanding of military directives and international law.” It also clarified that Lavender is simply a database that cross-references intelligence sources to produce up-to-date layers of information on terrorist organizations.
