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The US reviews news that Israel uses AI to identify targets in Gaza

The US reviews news that Israel uses AI to identify targets in Gaza

Apr 05, 2024

Washington [US], April 5: Spokesman Kirby said the US has not yet been able to verify the content of the news posted on +972 Magazine and Local Callon on April 3. This news cited Israeli intelligence officials to reveal an AI program called "Lavender".
Israel's search and destroy program?
According to sources, the Lavender program was developed and put into use by Israel's 8200 intelligence unit, with the ability to identify targets and quickly process data to select targets for the Israeli army to bomb.
To build Lavender, intelligence unit 8200 loaded information about Hamas figures and fighters as well as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement into the database.
Aid worker died in "intentional" Israeli attack?
The data were then used to rank Palestinians in Gaza on a scale of 1-100, based on their similarity to the Hamas members recorded in the original data set.
People who reach a certain threshold become targets in bombing raids. Accordingly, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were included in the list of suspects and needed to be destroyed.
However, a source claiming to work with the data science team that developed Lavender expressed concerns about the way information is loaded into the system, such as the developer putting into the program employees' information. Civilian officer of Gaza's internal security agency.
The Israeli military has denied the existence of a hit list for Palestinians as +972 Magazine and Local Callon reported. CNN quoted information from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirming that it does not use AI to identify suspected terrorists.
However, the IDF does not deny the existence of the Lavender system, which it describes as "only a tool for analysts in the target identification process".
The US is 'outraged' because Israel's airstrike killed Western aid workers
Israel changes tactics in Gaza
In a related development, on April 4, Israel said it would change the tactics applied in the conflict in the Gaza Strip after the accidental killing of 7 aid workers on April 1.
At least 196 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October last year, according to Reuters citing United Nations data.
Faced with the above situation, Israeli government spokesman Raquela Karamson affirmed that what happened on April 1 was "unintended", and said that the country will definitely adjust its deployment tactics in Gaza to ensure confusion. This will not happen again.
Ms. Karamson said it would take several weeks for Israel to complete its investigation into what happened in the accidental killing of aid workers. However, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, IDF spokesman, said that this deadline will be shorter.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper