Yasmeen Serhan
AI warfare may conjure images of killer robots and autonomous drones, but a different reality is unfolding in the Gaza Strip. There, artificial intelligence has been suggesting targets in Israel’s retaliatory campaign to root out Hamas following the group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack. A program known as “The Gospel” generates suggestions for buildings and structures militants may be operating in. “Lavender” is programmed to identify suspected members of Hamas and other armed groups for assassination, from commanders all the way down to foot soldiers. “Where’s Daddy?” reportedly follows their movements by tracking their phones in order to target them—often to their homes, where their presence is regarded as confirmation of their identity. The air strike that follows might kill everyone in the target's family, if not everyone in the apartment building.
These programs, which the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has acknowledged developing, may help explain the pace of the most devastating bombardment campaign of the 21st century, in which more than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, whose count is regarded as reliable by the U.S. and U.N. In earlier Gaza wars, Israeli military veterans say airstrikes occurred at a much slower tempo.
“During the period in which I served in the target room [between 2010 and 2015], you needed a team of around 20 intelligence officers to work for around 250 days to gather something between 200 to 250 targets,” Tal Mimran, a lecturer at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a former legal adviser in the IDF, tells TIME. “Today, the AI will do that in a week.”
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