Barsam Mohammadi – regional issues expert

The Zionist regime, which is one of the leading actors in the “militarization of modern technologies” and especially artificial intelligence, does not see the Gaza war as a military challenge or threat. Still, in the shadow of the inaction of international institutions and the absence of necessary legal rules in this field, it is seen as an “opportunity.” It has turned to test its new military technologies, many of which are still unsaid and hidden.

The Zionist regime used artificial intelligence for the “first time” and officially in the 11-day war in 2021-2 in Gaza (Sif al-Quds) to determine the locations of rocket launches and the deployment of drones. In the past four years, in almost all small and large conflicts with the Palestinians and the Islamic Resistance Front, artificial intelligence has been used in an “unconventional” way, which has caused protests at the international level and in some human rights circles. Earlier this year, the Secretary General of the United Nations warned of the dangers of using artificial intelligence in the Gaza war by the Zionist regime and said, “Artificial intelligence should be used for the benefit of the world, not to help the war on an industrial level, which makes accountability difficult.”. »

The war in Gaza has provided an unprecedented opportunity for the army of the Zionist regime to exploit the technologies related to artificial intelligence in a much broader operational scene, which has led to the expansion of the depth and scope of the war crimes of this regime in Gaza; This is because one of the important capabilities of artificial intelligence can be the drastic reduction of civilian casualties in wars and prevent the destruction of service infrastructure.

From the first days of the war, the Zionist regime used three software called Gospel, which identifies centers and infrastructure; Lavender, which identifies people; and Where Is Daddy, which is used to track and target militants. The suspect uses it when they are at home with their family; especially among these, the use of “Lavender” software is more evident and has played an effective role in the sharp increase in the number of martyrs in Gaza.

With access to a huge database of a large portion of the population of Gaza, Lavender analyzes them through a mass surveillance system, then assesses and classifies the likelihood of any given individual being active in Palestinian resistance groups.

This software, which has many “errors” in the diagnostic and identification processes, gives almost every suspect in Gaza a score from 1 to 100 based on how close or similar they “may” be to the resistance forces and, thus, the degree of likelihood that they are armed. It determines their existence.

Therefore, people who have a high score according to artificial intelligence estimates are, as a result, more likely to be members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, regardless of whether they may be civilians; wherever they are, they are targeted.

It is worth considering here that when attacking small resistance groups identified by artificial intelligence systems such as Lavender, the number of civilians “allowed to be killed” next to each target varies between 20 and 100 people, which is classified as “collateral damage.”

In other words, the higher the score of the detected target, the higher the number of civilians allowed to be killed automatically. In simpler words, the killing of a person suspected of being a member of Hamas or Islamic Jihad is worth the assassination of dozens of civilians, even women and children, around him.

With this software, the army of the Zionist regime has so far identified and registered tens of thousands of Palestinians and residential houses as militias and suspicious areas for military attack.

The use of the said program, which was developed by Unit 8200 in the intelligence of the Zionist regime’s army, has led to the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure and residential areas, as well as a significant increase in the number of Palestinian martyrs, which exceeds 41,000 today.

Information and field data show that in the past 11 months, the Zionist regime has used artificial intelligence as a widespread and pervasive “killing machine” in Gaza, so artificial intelligence has played a prominent role in the war plans of the criminal regime’s army against the people of Gaza. The issue has caused the destruction of houses and civilian areas and the death of many people, especially children and women.

In fact, the Zionist regime destroys hundreds and thousands of people to destroy a target determined by artificial intelligence software, which is against international regulations and, is a full-scale war crime, and crosses all human red lines.

In the way of using artificial intelligence, the Zionist regime violates one of the three fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, that is, the “principle of separation,” according to which the warring parties must at all times distinguish between civilians and military and between civilian objects and military targets.

In the end, it is emphasized that despite the outstanding capabilities and opportunities artificial intelligence technologies provide to mankind and can accelerate and facilitate the process of human societies achieving healthy and sublime goals, the Zionist regime used this technology in the Gaza war with a cruel and criminal approach. It is necessary for public opinion, the international community, and international institutions to be active in this field and not allow artificial intelligence to become a machine for killing the Palestinian people.