Analyzing comments from Israeli army sources and subtle statements made by IDF officials, the British publication The Guardian published research on Israel’s use of artificial intelligence systems in the war against Hamas.
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Israel conducted its first war using artificial intelligence back in 2021. It was an 11-day war, during which representatives of the Israeli army announced the active use of machine learning and advanced computing. Following the conflict in May 2021, Israel announced unprecedented success and destruction of Hamas’ military infrastructure.
The modern war between Israel and Hamas provides the IDF with unprecedented opportunities to use advanced military technologies in the theater of operations. The Guardian has collected and analyzed details about the Israelis’ use of an artificial intelligence system called “Habsora” or “Gospel” in Ukrainian.
Up to 100 goals per day
A secret department for the administration (detection and designation) of targets for strikes was created in the IDF in 2019 under the intelligence department. A brief statement on the IDF’s website claimed that in the war against Hamas it is using an artificial intelligence-based system to detect targets at a rapid pace.
The IDF said that “through fast and automatic intelligence extraction,” Gospel provided targeting recommendations to its researchers “with the goal of a complete match between machine recommendations and human identifications.”
Multiple sources familiar with the IDF’s targeting processes confirmed the existence of the mechanized algorithm, saying it was used to create automated recommendations for attacks on targets, such as the private homes of individuals suspected of activities in the Hamas or Islamic Jihad groups.
Aviv Kahavi, then head of the Israel Defense Forces, said the new unit was a division “equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities” and included hundreds of officers and soldiers. In an interview published before the current war, he said it was a machine that produced vast amounts of data more efficiently than any human and turned it into targets to strike. According to Kahavi, “once this machine was activated” during Israel’s 11-day war with Hamas in May 2021, it created 100 targets per day.
A new artificial intelligence division has been created to solve the IDF’s chronic problem. In former operations in Gaza, the Israeli army often simply ran out of targets to strike as senior Hamas officials disappeared into tunnels at the start of any new offensive.
According to the publication’s sources, systems such as Gospel allowed the IDF to identify and target a much larger group of junior operatives.
One official who worked on targeting decisions in previous operations in Gaza said the IDF had not previously targeted the homes of junior Hamas members. And this has changed with the current conflict – now the homes of suspected Hamas activists are targeted regardless of rank.
During the first 35 days of the war, Israel attacked 15,000 targets in Gaza, a significant increase from previous military operations in the densely populated coastal territory, according to figures released by the IDF in November. By comparison, in the 51-day war in 2014, the IDF bombed between 5,000 and 6,000 targets.
“It really is like a factory.”
Sources familiar with how artificial intelligence-based systems have been built into IDF operations said such tools have significantly sped up the target generation process.
We prepare targets automatically and work according to a checklist. — a source who previously worked in the target department told +972/Local Call. – It’s really like a factory. We work quickly and there is no time to go deeper into the goal. We are supposed to be judged on how many goals we managed to create.
In a brief IDF statement about the division’s targeting activities, the official said the unit “conducts precision attacks on Hamas-affiliated infrastructure, causing extensive harm to the enemy and minimal harm to non-combatants.”
A former senior Israeli military source told the Guardian that operatives are using “very precise” measurements of the speed of civilians evacuating a building shortly before impact. We use an algorithm to estimate how many civilians remain. He gives us green, yellow, red like a traffic light.”
However, experts in artificial intelligence and armed conflict who spoke to the Guardian said they were skeptical of claims that AI-based systems reduce harm to civilians by encouraging more precise targeting.
Look at the physical landscape of Gaza, said Richard Moyes, a researcher who heads Article 36, a group that fights to reduce gun damage. “We are seeing widespread destruction of urban areas using heavy explosive weapons, so statements about the reliability and limitations of the use of force are not supported by facts.
Another source said that the “Gospel” allowed the IDF to run a “mass killing factory” in which “the emphasis is on quantity rather than quality.” The human eye, he said, will “inspect targets before each attack, but it doesn’t have to spend a lot of time doing so.”
For some experts who study artificial intelligence and international humanitarian law, this acceleration raises a number of concerns. Dr Martha Bo, a research fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said that even if “people are in the know”, there is a risk that they will develop a “propensity towards automation” and “over-reliance on a system that has a large impact on complex human decisions.”
Article 36’s Moyes said that by relying on tools such as Gospel, commanders are “given a computer-generated list of targets” and they “do not necessarily know how the list was created or have the ability to adequately analyze and question recommendations for targeting.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.