Israeli military’s digital tools risk civilian harm, says Human Rights Watch

GAZA: The Israeli military's use of surveillance technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and other digital tools to help determine targets to attack in Gaza may be increasing the risk of civilian harm, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document about the tools. These digital tools raise grave ethical, legal, and humanitarian concerns. The Israeli military is using four digital tools in Gaza to estimate the number of civilians in an area prior to an attack, notify soldiers when to attack, and to determine whether a person is a civilian or a combatant, as well as whether a structure is civilian or military. Human Rights Watch found that the digital tools appear to rely on faulty data and inexact approximations to inform military actions in ways that could contravene Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the rules of distinction and precaution. 'The Israeli military is using incomplete data, flawed calculations, and tools not fit for purpose to help make life and death decisions in Gaza, which could be increasing civilian harm,' said Zach Campbell, senior surveillance researcher at Human Rights Watch. 'Problems in the design and use of these tools mean that, instead of minimizing civilian harm, the use of these tools could be resulting in the unlawful killing and wounding of civilians.' These tools entail ongoing and systematic surveillance of Palestinian residents of Gaza, including data collected prior to the current hostilities, in a manner that is incompatible with international human rights law. The tools use Palestinians' personal data to inform threat predictions, target identification, and machine learning. Over the past 10 months in Gaza, over 40,000 people have been killed and 94,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Over 70 percent of civilian infrastructure and over 60 percent of civilian homes have been destroyed or severely damaged. Virtually all of Gaza's residents have been displaced from their homes. Impartial in vestigations into the use of these digital tools is needed to determine whether and to what extent they have unlawfully contributed to the loss of civilian life and property, and the steps that are needed to prevent future harm, Human Rights Watch said. "The use of flawed technology in any context can have negative human rights implications, but the risks in Gaza couldn't be higher," Campbell said. "The Israeli military's use of these digital tools to support military decision-making should not be leading to unlawful attacks and grave civilian harm." Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA