--- title: "Israel Reportedly Using AI to Identify Targets for “Mass Assassination Factory”" description: "Israel is apparently using a secretive AI tool to identify targets for assassination amid its ongoing war with Hamas." date: "2023-12-01" modified: "2023-12-01" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/israel-ai-targeting-hamas" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "gaza" - "Israel" - "military tech" - "the digest" --- # Israel Reportedly Using AI to Identify Targets for “Mass Assassination Factory” ![Israel is apparently using a secretive AI tool to identify targets for assassination amid its ongoing war with Hamas.]() *\Image: Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu via Getty\* ## Gospel Truth Israel is, per reports in multiple international news outlets, using a secretive artificial intelligence tool to identify targets — and their accompanying collateral damage — for assassination amid its ongoing war with Hamas that has [all but leveled Northern Gaza](). As [*The Guardian*]() and the Israeli-Palestinian magazine [*+972* report](), military officials have confirmed on condition of anonymity the existence of a program known as "Habsora," translated to "The Gospel" in English — and not to be confused with the Hebrew term "Hasbara," which [roughly translates to "propaganda]()" — that's said to comprise a "factory"-esque production line of people slated for state slaughter. The software, which the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) [briefly announced in early November](), is supposed to generate intelligence on "precise attacks on infrastructure associated with Hamas while inflicting great damage to the enemy and minimal harm to non-combatants." Interviews with in-the-known sources, however, suggest exactly the opposite: that the widespread collateral damage, in the form of [thousands and thousands of civilian ]()deaths that have led to a humanitarian crisis and a global outcry, isn't just known to IDF intelligence units, but is also an intentional tactic. ## Acceptable Losses According to sources who spoke to *+972* on condition of anonymity, the heightened bombing of non-military "power targets" — private residences, public buildings, [important pieces of infrastructure](), and high-rise blocks — is intended to "create a shock" in Palestinian civil society and ultimately "lead civilians to put pressure on Hamas." Israel has also allegedly used its tech and other intelligence-gathering capabilities under the umbrella of its so-called "target division" to estimate how many civilians would be killed in potential attacks. Those numbers, *+972*'s sources say, are calculated and relayed to the military in advance. "Nothing happens by accident," one of the magazine's sources explained. "When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit \[another\] target." Although it's unclear which technologies are used to generate the IDF's target database, it seems pretty clear that "The Gospel" plays a role in the Israeli military's new broad blanket strategy, which one ex-target division official referred to as part of the military's "mass assassination factory" where the "emphasis is on quantity and not on quality." "We work quickly and there is no time to delve deep into the target," another ex-target division source told *+972*. "The view is that we are judged according to how many targets we manage to generate." "We prepare the targets automatically and work according to a checklist," that ex-intelligence official said. "It really is like a factory." **More on the Israel-Hamas war:** [*Viral Images of Dead Infants in Israel-Gaza War Are AI Fakes, Experts Say*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()