#Gaza / ‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets
The #IDF attacked the #Gaza Strip during the war with the assistance of an #AI-based data system called "Lavender", which incriminated 37,000 men as potential #Hamas and Islamic Jihad (#IJ) activists. According to an investigation published by the local news site "Sikha Mekomit" publised also in The Guardian, in addition to using this system, intelligence sources stated that the army had set quotas for killing uninvolved civilians before certain assassinations.
According to two sources, in the first weeks of the war, the army approved strikes on junior operatives that could kill 15-20 civilians in addition to the targets. They said that attacks on such targets were usually carried out with "stupid bombs" that destroyed entire homes and killed their inhabitants.
[...] “This is unparalleled, in my memory,” said one intelligence officer who used Lavender, adding that they had more faith in a “statistical mechanism” than a grieving soldier. “Everyone there, including me, lost people on October 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.”
[...] “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.”
I know some of you dislike replication from X but this is important
Muhammad Shehada: Israel is surgically & methodically assassinating anyone that tries to ensure the safe distribution of aid in Gaza & prevent looting & chaos
In 72 hours, Israel killed 3 top police officials, 24 social workers, & a prominent tribal leader who all worked on securing aid convoys🧵
"Desperate Palestinians rushing toward aid trucks to fetch food in central Gaza were forced to flee after Israeli troops opened fire on them amid the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the enclave.
"Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza City in the central part of the besieged enclave running to get food items delivered by the United Nations in boxes on the back of trucks as bullets are fired."
Israel began bombing Rafah about 4 hours ago and casualties of at least 63 - who knows how many by morning. I just saw ppl shroud a dead baby. @palestine@israel
@matunos@Sherifazuhur@israel@palestine No, it's more than this. The IDF's reports of the basic military matters - where the troops are operating, IDF casualties, etc. - have been reliable. Israel isn't Russia, it can't hide massive numbers of bodies of its own troops.
(Relatedly: hasbara was shit on and right after 7.10 - nobody knew what to do, and the state's best idea was to buy likes on Twitter; the #HamasIsISIS campaign was freelance. But in the war itself, it's functioning just fine.)
Open letter on the anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic environment at Emory University
Students at Emory University have been targeted by racist, anti-Palestinian, xenophobic, and Islamophobic harassment and attacks for their support for Palestinian human rights. Instead of helping, Emory has committed discriminatory acts of its own.
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 112: In a historic moment, ICJ moves forward with genocide case against Israel
While the court stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, Israel is ordered to allow aid into Gaza, punish incitement to genocide, and take more protective measures for civilians – even as the situation on the ground remains cataclysmic.