alleged
Gaza: reported Israeli AI-assisted targeting (Lavender, 'The Gospel')
According to +972 Magazine and Local Call (3 April 2024), citing six Israeli intelligence officers, the Israeli military used an AI system called Lavender that at one stage marked about 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants; officers said they spent about 20 seconds reviewing each target, that the system was treated as having roughly a 10% error rate, and that strikes on junior operatives were permitted to kill 15-20 civilians, often at family homes located via a tracking system called 'Where's Daddy?'. +972 (November 2023) and the Washington Post (December 2024) separately described 'The Gospel', an AI system generating bombing targets; the Post, citing its own sources, reported that at times soldiers attacked human targets without corroborating Lavender's predictions. The IDF said it 'does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist', described Lavender as a database to cross-reference intelligence sources, said each target is examined individually, and told the Post the tools 'have minimized collateral damage and raised the accuracy of the human-led process'. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in April 2024 he was 'deeply troubled' by the reports.
- Status
- Alleged, not proven
- Deaths
- Unknown
- Date
- 2023 – 2024
- Place
- Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories
- AI system
- Lavender (reported machine-learning system scoring individuals as suspected Hamas/PIJ militants); Habsora / 'The Gospel' (AI-assisted system recommending structures as bombing targets, described by the IDF itself as using AI); 'Where's Daddy?' (reported automated tracking that alerted when marked individuals entered their homes; not clearly described as machine learning)
- Developer / operator
- Israel Defense Forces (military intelligence), as reported; the Gospel is used by the IDF's targeting directorate according to IDF statements quoted by NPR
Why this case is “alleged”
No court, coroner or official investigation has yet found that Lavender (reported machine-learning system scoring individuals as suspected Hamas/PIJ militants); Habsora / 'The Gospel' (AI-assisted system recommending structures as bombing targets, described by the IDF itself as using AI); 'Where's Daddy?' (reported automated tracking that alerted when marked individuals entered their homes; not clearly described as machine learning) caused or contributed to these deaths. The case is listed because it meets our standard for a credible allegation. It will move to the confirmed count only if an official body makes such a finding.
Legal status
No court, tribunal or UN fact-finding body has made a finding on the role of these systems in specific deaths as of 11 September 2026. The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories (report A/HRC/59/23, 30 June 2025, para. 42) states that the Israeli military has developed AI systems 'such as Lavender, Gospel and Where's Daddy? to process data and generate lists of targets', but does not attribute specific deaths to them. A UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted 5 April 2024 'denounces the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to aid military decision making in conflict that may contribute to international crimes' (per UN News). Israel disputes the reporting's characterisation of these systems.
Notes
No number of deaths is recorded, because no source attributes a specific number to these systems. The figure of about 37,000 is the number of people Lavender reportedly marked as suspected militants, not a death toll. The dispute is over how meaningful human review of AI-generated targets was; Israel's military says analysts examine each target independently.
Sources
- 'Lavender': The AI machine directing Israel's bombing spree in Gaza
- 'A mass assassination factory': Inside Israel's calculated bombing of Gaza
- Israel built an 'AI factory' for war. It unleashed it in Gaza.
- UN chief 'deeply troubled' by reports Israel using AI to identify Gaza targets
- Israel is using an AI system to find targets in Gaza. Experts say it's just the start
- Questions and Answers: Israeli Military's Use of Digital Tools in Gaza
- A/HRC/59/23: From economy of occupation to economy of genocide
- Human Rights Council resolution (UN News report)