The Use of the 'Lavender' in Gaza and the Law of Targeting: ai-Decision Support Systems and Facial Recognition Technology

Abstract

On 7 October 2023, the long-lasting Israel-Hamas conflict escalated significantly in scale and violence. Reports reveal that the Israeli military have employed Artificial Intelligence Decision Support Systems (‘ai-dss’) to identify individuals in targeting situations. Another report has indicated that the Israeli military used facial recognition technology (‘frt’) to identify Palestinians in Gaza. Scholars are debating the legality of ai-dss under International Humanitarian Law (‘ihl’), and the extent to which military commanders can rely on ai for targeting decisions. This article describes the challenges in human-machine interaction with a focus on algorithmically generated recommendations and the responsibility of military commanders in this regard. The article concludes that, while the use of frt can enhance accuracy in identifying individuals and support adherence to ihl obligations, its effectiveness depends on the operational environment. It also emphasises the importance of improving military commanders’ technical literacy of ai-dss and ensuring that sufficient time is taken to verify the accuracy of algorithmically generated targets.