Israel uses AI facial recognition to abduct scores of Gazans

News Desk - The Cradle 

These programs have been in use since long before the current Gaza war, particularly in the occupied West Bank

Advanced facial recognition technology has played a leading role in the forced disappearance and abduction of scores of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel. 

Thousands have been reported missing in Gaza since the start of the Israeli ground war in late October.

A 27 March report by The New York Times (NYT) details the case of Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha – totally unaffiliated with Hamas – who was snatched, blindfolded, and dragged away from his child by Israeli forces within less than an hour of walking through a checkpoint in the Gaza Strip.

“Mr Abu Toha had walked into the range of cameras embedded with facial recognition technology,” anonymous Israeli intelligence sources told the outlet. Following his identification, an AI program found him on a list of people wanted by Israel.

He is one of “hundreds” of Palestinians who have been subjected to this method of kidnapping, the sources confirm. Officials say the technology is being used to search for Israeli prisoners being held captive by Hamas. 

Yet thousands of Palestinians, many with no links to the resistance, have gone missing without a trace.

“A teenager who sold cigarettes. A singer on the rise. An engineer at a local bottling plant … are among thousands who have been reported missing in Gaza,” The Washington Post reported in mid-March. 

These and many others are believed to have disappeared at Israeli checkpoints. According to the ICRC, over 5,000 are missing in the Gaza Strip. 

Last month, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) warned that Israel is repeatedly committing the "crime of enforced disappearance."

"To date, the occupation refuses to disclose any clear information about the fate of Gaza detainees, although international human rights organizations repeatedly called for stopping this crime," the PPS said.

Israel has boosted its use of advanced technologies such as AI, particularly to generate thousands of targets to strike in its genocidal war on the strip. 

However, Tel Aviv has been using such technology since long before the war in Gaza, particularly to consolidate its occupation of the West Bank. 

The use of facial recognition had significantly increased last year with the use of a system known as Red Wolf, aimed at restricting and surveilling Palestinian movement in the West Bank. 

"In both Hebron and occupied East Jerusalem, facial recognition technology supports a dense network of CCTV cameras to keep Palestinians under near-constant observation … this surveillance is part of a deliberate attempt by Israeli authorities to create a hostile and coercive environment for Palestinians,” Amnesty International reported in May 2023.