Israel Targets Palestinians With Lethal Autonomous Weapons and Killer Robots

Reed McIntire
22 May 2024
German version

Israel’s use of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) and AI targeting systems in its campaign in Gaza has legal experts and humanitarian workers increasingly worried. Since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, the protracted Israeli campaign in Gaza has caused a massive Palestinian death toll, the majority of whom are women, children and innocent civilians.

The war in Gaza has made clear that killer robots and automated killing machines are no longer science fiction. The increased use of AWS and LAWS in Ukraine and Gaza raise profound legal, ethical, humanitarian and security issues.

The use of LAWS by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to determine, find and target Palestinians is increasing the effectiveness of Israel’s killing machine. On 16 May 2024, South Africa in its presentation at the ICJ specifically mentioned the immediate need to halt the IDF from using LAWS to target and kill Palestinians. According to South Africa’s presentation, the IDF’s use of AI in selecting targets puts the members of a certain WhatsApp groups on Israel’s kill list.

According to a Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the IDF have been seen using quadcopter drones outfitted with weapons in their operations (https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6166/Gaza:-Israel-systematically-uses-quadcopters-to-kill-Palestinians-from-a-close-distance). These small flying drones were previously used for intelligence gathering but have since been adapted to a wide variety of mission types. The report also claims that these drones were used indiscriminately against Palestinian civilians at times: “Israeli sniping operations, killings, and executions primarily target unarmed civilians in shelter centers, hospitals, streets, and populated residential areas; these civilians pose no threat or danger to anyone, as they are not participants in any hostilities”.

The investigation showed that AI killer drones fitted with machine guns and missiles from the Matrice 600 and LANIUS categories have already killed dozens of civilians, “by firing automatic machine guns mounted beneath the aircraft at random gatherings or by shooting directly at people.” These are highly mobile and versatile LAWS, i.e. ideal for short-term operations.  Euro-Med confirmed that these Israeli quadcopter drones opened fire on 11 January 2024 on Palestinians who had gathered to receive flour brought by UN trucks. Israel denied this.

According to Israel the IDF’s use of AI and AWS have typically required a human to verify any acquired target before action can be taken. This mechanism would ideally prevent misfires or misidentification of targets before a civilian is injured. Independent reports and investigations have debunked this narrative, claiming that the whole process takes only several minutes before the system is allowed to pull the trigger.

This is not the first time the IDF has used AI and drones in its operations. In the previous incursion into Gaza in 2021, the IDF used an AI program extensively to help identify and kill targets. The border fence surrounding the Gaza Strip was also heavily equipped with AI-powered technology to aid in surveillance of the border region. However, these systems often failed in accurately recognizing individuals and did not help warn of Hamas’ brutal attacks in October.

The use of AI and LAWS is still a gray area in international law. In 2018, United Nations General Secretary António Guterres labeled them “politically unacceptable and morally repugnant”, calling for a ban within the UN. He reiterated this plea in his 2023 New Agenda for Peace and recommends the international community pass a legally binding instrument to prohibit LAWS by 2026. However, legislating LAWS remains difficult as there is no agreed-upon definition.

On 22 December 2023, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted its first-ever resolution on AWS. An overwhelming majority (152) of Member States were in favor of the resolution, 4 voted against it (Belarus, India, Mali, and Russian Federation), and 11 Member States abstained (China, Iran, Israel, Madagascar, North Korea, Niger, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates). Resolution 78/241 expressed concern about the possible negative consequences and impact of AWS on global security and regional and international stability, while affirming that international law, the UN Charter, international humanitarian law (IHL), and international human rights law applies to AWS.

The key area of concern is the lack of accountability when civilians are killed when using AWS, LAWS and AI. The IDF has been largely hesitant to reveal much of its AI programs. It remains unclear how Israel determines who to target. As a result, the proliferation of these systems has been a major cause for concern among observers of the ongoing war.

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According to Human Rights Watch the technological advances have allowed for the development of AWS “that operate without meaningful human control, delegating life-and-death decisions to machines”. No longer will a human decide whether, where and when to apply force, but a machine. Recently, the IDF purchased three robotic dogs from the US-based company, Ghost Robotics. Robotic dogs, such as these, can be used for scouting and reconnaissance across a wide variety of terrains and conditions. While these robots are shipped unarmed, they can be outfitted with weapons for their missions as well.

The US company Palantir Technologies has close ties to the CIA and is one of the world’s most advanced data-mining companies. Palantir has been busy supplying Israel’s military and intelligence agencies with advanced and powerful targeting capabilities. With such advance targeting capabilities, it is difficult to understand how the IDF made the “mistake” of targeting aid workers. Palantir AI is also deployed and used for aiding Ukraine in selecting its targets.

An article in The Nation “How US Intelligence and an American Company Feed Israel’s Killing Machine in Gaza” published on 12 April 2024 highlighted the close connection between the US government, Palantir and Israel. According to the article, Palantir’s AI machines need data for fuel (https://www.thenation.com/article/world/nsa-palantir-israel-gaza-ai/). This data is provided through US intelligence reports on Palestinians in the occupied territories. According to documents released by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden, one source of Palantir’s data is the NSA which has been secretly providing Israel with raw, unredacted phone and e-mail communications between Palestinian Americans in the US and their relatives in the occupied territories for years. Palantir AI then uses this data to select targets for the IDF. From the moment the algorithm detects and selects its target (i.e., humans) only a few minutes elapse until these targets are prosecuted (i.e., killed)— a term of art in the field. In conventional pre-AI warfare, this process could take up to six hours.

Palantir is now developing an even more deadly targeting system called TITAN (Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node). According to Palantir, TITAN is a “next-generation Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance ground station enabled by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to process data received from Space, High Altitude, Aerial and Terrestrial layers.” According to The Nation investigation: “Although designed for use by the US Army, it’s possible that the company could test prototypes against Palestinians in Gaza.” Human Rights Watch and Stop Killer Robots have expressed deep concern about this development.

The Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs hosted an international conference “Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation” on 29-30 April 2024 in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Participants included all UN Member States, the UN, the ICRC, international and regional organizations, representatives of academia, think tanks, industry and civil society. This conference was an important step in the long road toward finding international consensus on regulating and controlling AWS and LAWS.

All efforts must be undertaken to negotiations this new international treaty to ban and regulate LAWS, but unfortunately, all these efforts will most likely prove to late to save innocent lives in Gaza.