As civilian casualties continue to mount in the wartorn Gaza Strip, reports of Israel’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its targeting of Hamas militants are facing increasing scrutiny. A report by the Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call earlier this month said that Israeli forces had relied heavily on two AI tools so far in the conflict — “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy.”
While “Lavender” identifies suspected Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants and their homes, “Where’s Daddy” tracks these targets and informs Israeli forces when they return home, per the report, which cites six Israeli intelligence officers who had used AI systems for operations in Gaza, including “Where’s Daddy?”
“We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” one of the officers told +972 and Local Call. “On the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations,” they added.
Every sane country on earth: “We use modern tools to reduce civilian casualties (because civilian casualties are bad PR).”
Old-school countries: “We use modern tools without regard for civilian casualties (because what are they going to do about it? fight back? lmao)”
Israel and Russia: “We use modern tools to INCREASE civilian casualties!”
The civilian casualty count in Gaza is already higher than Ukraine. As bad as Russia is, they’re nothing in comparison to Israel.