[News] 'Targets never end': 'Israel' uses Lavender AI system for Gaza bombing

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-targets-never-end----israel--uses-lavender-ai-system-for-ga>
'Targets never end': 'Israel' uses Lavender AI system for Gaza bombing
Al Mayadeen English
April 4, 2024
------------------------------

Israeli intelligence sources disclose the deployment of the Lavender system
in the Gaza genocide, affirming authorization to target civilians in
pursuit of Resistance fighters.
[image: f29685ff-54b6-43dc-9700-dc17e6d87087.jpeg]

   - Palestinian cameraman Mohammed Alaloul (L) hugs his father after two
   of his children and his brother were killed in an Israeli strike on the
   al-Maghazi refugee camp. (*AFP *via Getty Images)

The Israeli military's airstrikes in Gaza utilized a previously
undisclosed AI-powered
database
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/technology/iof-s-use-of-ai-in-gaza-genocide-maximizes-risk-of-killing-c>,
dubbed Lavender, which reportedly identified 37,000 alleged targets linked
to the Palestinian Resistance, according to intelligence sources familiar
with the ongoing aggression.

These sources also unmasked that Israeli military officials authorized the
killing of a significant number of Palestinian civilians, particularly in
the initial weeks and months of the genocide.

Their testimonies offer shocking experiences of Israeli intelligence
personnel employing machine-learning systems to pinpoint "targets" during
the six-month-long aggression.
'The machine did it coldly'

Israeli utilization of sophisticated AI technology
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/technology/ai-should-be-prioritized-as-dangerous-as-nuclear-wars:-exper>
in its genocidal campaign in Gaza marks new territory in modern warfare,
adding to the legal and ethical scrutiny and reshaping the dynamics between
military personnel and automated systems.

"The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier,”  said one
intelligence officer who used Lavender.

“I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage, and do dozens of
them every day. I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp
of approval. It saved a lot of time,” said another soldier.

The testimony from the six intelligence officers, all of whom have been
involved in using AI systems to identify "targets" allegedly affiliated
with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) during the war, was
provided to Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. This information was
published in a report by publication *+972 Magazine* and outlet *Local Call*
.
Authorization to target civilians

All six individuals stated that Lavender played a pivotal role in the war,
analyzing vast amounts of data to swiftly identify "potential targets".
According to four sources, Lavender initially listed up to 37,000
Palestinian men allegedly linked to the Resistance during the early stages
of the war.

Developed by the Israel Security Forces' elite intelligence division, Unit
8200, Lavender is likened to the US National Security Agency or the UK's
GCHQ.

Multiple sources detailed how the IOF implemented pre-authorized allowances
for specific "target categories", specifying the estimated number of
civilians
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--kills-around-5-journalists-every-week-in-gaza-since>
permissible to be killed before authorizing a strike.

According to two sources, in the initial weeks of the war, they were
authorized to kill 15 to 20 civilians during airstrikes allegedly targeting
Resistance fighters. These attacks, typically executed using unguided
munitions referred to as "dumb bombs", resulted in the destruction of
entire residences and the fatalities of all individuals inside them.

 “You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people – it’s very
expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs],” one
intelligence officer said.

“Because we usually carried out the attacks with dumb bombs, and that meant
literally dropping the whole house on its occupants. But even if an attack
is averted, you don’t care – you immediately move on to the next target.
Because of the system, the targets never end. You have another 36,000
waiting,” another added.

According to experts, if "Israel" has indeed utilized unguided bombs to
destroy the residences of numerous Palestinians over the mere suspicion of
having ties to Resistance groups in Gaza, aided by AI technology, this
could provide a potential explanation for the significantly elevated
civilian death toll during the war.

The Health Ministry reported earlier today that the total number of
Palestinians killed
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/in-181-days-only--33-037-killed--75-668-injured-in-gaza>
in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli aggression on Gaza started on October 7
has risen to 33,037, in addition to 75,668 injuries.
‘It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home’

The testimonies published by *+972* and *Local Call* may shed light on how
a modern military with advanced capabilities and precision weapons could
still inflict significant casualties during warfare.

According to the testimonies, when targeting suspected Resistance fighters,
the preference was to strike when they were believed to be present at their
family's homes.

“We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were
in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” one said. “It’s
much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them
in these situations.”

The strategy posed a risk of increased civilian casualties, and according
to the sources, the IOF enforced predetermined limits on the acceptable
number of civilian casualties in strikes
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/destroying-gaza-s-healthcare-system-is-a-war-crime--foreign>
targeting individual Resistance fighters. This ratio was reported to have
evolved over time and differed based on the seniority of the target.

"No one thought about what to do afterward, when the war is over, or how it
will be possible to live in Gaza,” one said.

“There was a dissonance: on the one hand, people here were frustrated that
we were not attacking enough. On the other hand, you see at the end of the
day that another thousand Gazans have died, most of them civilians,” one
Israeli intelligence officer who used Lavender asserted.

*Read more: Civilian deaths in Gaza top all 20th century wars: Israeli
media
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/civilian-deaths-in-gaza-top-all-20th-century-wars--israeli-m>*
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