Israel weaponises AI for West Bank demolitions

AI tools push forced evictions of Palestinians, automating demolitions in occupied territories under Israeli control.

Israeli forces destroy a building in a Palestinian village of Sur Baher, occupied East Jerusalem in 2019 [File: Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]

As the world wrestles with the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and the dangers of removing humans from life-altering decisions, Israel has pressed ahead with deploying AI as part of its military arsenal.

In Gaza, AI systems have been used to determine potential bomb targets , contributing to the scale of the killing of Palestinians there as recently documented in the award-winning documentary NAZA .

list 1 of 3 Geopolitical divides fueling Security Council inaction, UN chief warns

list 2 of 3 UK trade unions back motion to boycott and sanction Israel

list 3 of 3 Belarus frees 25 political prisoners in return for US sanctions relief

Israel has not only used AI in its genocidal war on Gaza but also in the occupied West Bank, where it has systematically been weaponised to survey Palestinian land and expedite forced displacement, according to researchers and rights activists.

The Turkish media outlet PalDigital, citing rights activists and Israeli media reports, highlighted how Israel uses AI tools – and specifically a product called ImiSight developed by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael – to monitor vast swathes of land and observe changes that can then be used as justifications for demolitions.

The tool was initially used by Israel in the Naqab desert, targeting Bedouin Palestinian citizens of Israel, PalDigital reported in July. Many Bedouins live in villages in Israel not recognised by the government, with authorities issuing few building permits. Activists say the actions are discriminatory and aim to force the Bedouin community out to create Jewish settlements.

In many cases when the tool identified changes to the landscape deemed to be unauthorised structures, bulldozers moved in.

According to PalDigital, Israel has now brought that tool to the occupied West Bank where it has regularly demolished Palestinian homes for years – citing building violations in areas where it is extremely difficult for Palestinians to obtain permits.

An Israel Land Authority enforcement unit was established in April 2025 with the express purpose of operating in the West Bank, a move the Israeli rights group Peace Now described as a “step of annexation”. The organisation added that the agency, which manages land rights, uses “advanced technological tools, based on artificial intelligence, for detecting encroachments”.

Amir Daoud, head of documentation and publication at the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, told Al Jazeera that establishing the unit was a calculated escalation.

“We are talking about transferring a surveillance and eviction model tested against Palestinians in the Naqab to the occupied Palestinian territory,” Daoud told Al Jazeera. “The political danger begins with establishing a district affiliated with the Israel Land Authority to operate inside the West Bank. This means introducing an Israeli civilian government apparatus directly into an occupied territory.”

Al Jazeera has reached out to the Israeli military and ImiSight for comment, but has yet to receive a response.

Edge computing surveillance

Alongside AI platforms such as ImiSight, advances in satellite technology are also increasing the speed at which aerial imagery can be processed. Khaled Safi, a Palestinian digital media and technology expert, explained to Al Jazeera that the system has sped up processing capabilities by bypassing the delay of traditional human oversight. Instead, newer satellites can now process images using AI while still in orbit.

“When [powerful computer chips] and AI algorithms were adopted inside the satellite itself, it practically turned the satellite into an edge computing terminal operating in space,” Safi told Al Jazeera, referring to a device that processes data where it is created, rather than sending it to a data centre. “It takes the picture, analyses it, identifies changes and important objects, and then sends the result or just the important part to Earth.”

Israeli media reported in January 2025 that ImiSight had allowed the Land Authority to survey more than 10,700sq km in the Naqab, contributing to the forced eviction of more than 2,600 Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel.

That automation is now causing suffering in the West Bank.

Comparing 2010 to 2022 with 2023 to 2025, Israeli human rights groups Peace Now and Kerem Navot documented an 80 percent increase in demolitions in Area C of the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, which are under complete Israeli military and administrative control. An average of 966 buildings were razed annually from 2023 to 2025. Demolitions accelerated in 2025, with Israeli forces destroying 1,288 Palestinian structures between January and September alone.

“The algorithm here is a ‘force multiplier’: It scans vast areas, prioritises targets, identifies recent changes and allows a faster transition to warning and demolition,” Daoud stated. “The government makes the decision of decisive displacement, and the algorithm lowers the cost of executing it.”

Automating enforcement

The AI system is further fed by a heavily funded network of Israeli settler ground patrols transforming illegal outposts into intelligence-gathering nodes. In 2023, the Israeli government allocated 33 million shekels ($9m) to settler patrols and 40 million shekels ($13.2m) to equip outposts with drones and cameras.

Safi warned of the serious ethical risk of a “human-out-of-the-loop” approach, where automated systems dictate the fate of vulnerable populations without a human review.

“The problem is transforming a fateful decision into a probability equation between zero and one, and between a number, an image, and data,” Safi stated. “This allows the criminal to disperse responsibility and escape it, making it fall either on the algorithm, the institution or another unknown entity.”

This use of technology unfolds alongside unprecedented settlement expansion. Between 2023 and 2025, the Israeli government advanced plans for more than 40,000 settler housing units and established 185 new outposts – all illegal under international law. On the other hand, in the same period, Israel oversaw the expulsion of 118 Palestinian shepherding communities across the West Bank.

According to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Peace Now, roughly 750,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in the occupied territories , with settler violence in the ongoing pogrom against Palestinians reaching a record 1,836 attacks in 2025 alone.

This coincides with the launch of an online land registry in Area C – an initiative that Palestinian authorities, including the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, have condemned as a digital mechanism designed to finalise administrative annexation.

Highlighting the stark double standards of this automated enforcement, Daoud described the system as an engine for segregation.

“The Palestinian building is discovered early and pushed into a rapid demolition track, while the colonial outpost is funded, connected to services, and then worked on to be legalised retroactively,” Daoud noted.

Ultimately, the deployment of ImiSight in the West Bank serves a dual, profitable purpose for Israel’s defence industry.

“The Palestinian territories are not just a surveillance space, but a very clear environment for the occupation to execute all these operations in the field,” Safi warned. “It trains its algorithms on the highest technologies, and makes them ready for sale and global marketing to commercial companies.”

人工智能工具推动对巴勒斯坦人的强制驱逐，在以色列控制的被占领土上实现房屋拆迁自动化。

2019年，以色列军队摧毁了位于被占领的东耶路撒冷苏尔巴赫尔村的一栋建筑物。[图片：Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]

当世界各国都在努力应对人工智能的伦理影响以及将人类从改变人生的决策中移除所带来的危险时，以色列却继续推进将人工智能部署到其军事武库中。

在加沙，人工智能系统被用来确定潜在的炸弹目标，这加剧了巴勒斯坦人在那里的死亡规模，正如最近获奖纪录片《纳扎》中所记录的那样。

联合国秘书长警告：地缘政治分歧加剧安理会不作为（列表1/3）

英国三大工会之二支持抵制和制裁以色列的动议

（共3条）白俄罗斯释放25名政治犯，换取美国解除制裁（名单3/3）

据研究人员和人权活动人士称，以色列不仅在对加沙的种族灭绝战争中使用了人工智能，还在被占领的西岸地区使用了人工智能，并系统地将其武器化，用于勘测巴勒斯坦土地和加速强迫流离失所。

土耳其媒体 PalDigital 援引人权活动人士和以色列媒体的报道，强调以色列如何使用人工智能工具——特别是以色列武器制造商拉斐尔公司开发的名为 ImiSight 的产品——来监控大片土地并观察变化，然后这些变化可以作为拆迁的理由。

据PalDigital 7月报道，以色列最初在内盖夫沙漠使用这种工具，目标是居住在以色列境内的贝都因巴勒斯坦公民。许多贝都因人居住在以色列政府不承认的村庄里，当局很少发放建筑许可证。活动人士称，这些行动具有歧视性，旨在迫使贝都因社区迁离，以便建立犹太人定居点。

在许多情况下，当该工具识别出被认为是未经授权的建筑物的景观变化时，推土机就会进驻。

据 PalDigital 报道，以色列现在已将该工具带到了被占领的西岸，多年来，以色列经常在那里拆除巴勒斯坦人的房屋——理由是这些地区的建筑存在违规行为，而巴勒斯坦人在这些地区获得许可极其困难。

以色列土地管理局于2025年4月成立了一个执法部门，其明确目的是在西岸开展行动。以色列人权组织“和平现在”称此举是“吞并行为”。该组织还补充说，这个负责管理土地权利的机构使用“基于人工智能的先进技术工具来检测侵占行为”。

殖民和隔离墙抵抗委员会的文献和出版负责人阿米尔·达乌德告诉半岛电视台，成立该部门是蓄意升级的行动。

达乌德告诉半岛电视台：“我们现在讨论的是将一种在内盖夫地区针对巴勒斯坦人进行过测试的监视和驱逐模式，移植到被占领的巴勒斯坦领土上。政治危险始于在西岸建立一个隶属于以色列土地管理局的行政区。这意味着将以色列的民事政府机构直接引入被占领土。”

半岛电视台已联系以色列军方和ImiSight公司寻求置评，但尚未收到回复。

边缘计算监控

除了ImiSight等人工智能平台外，卫星技术的进步也提高了航拍图像的处理速度。巴勒斯坦数字媒体和技术专家哈立德·萨菲向半岛电视台解释说，该系统绕过了传统的人工审核环节，从而加快了处理速度。现在，新型卫星可以在轨道上运行，利用人工智能技术处理图像。

萨菲告诉半岛电视台：“当卫星内部采用强大的计算机芯片和人工智能算法时，实际上就把卫星变成了在太空运行的边缘计算终端。”他指的是这种设备可以在数据产生的地方进行处理，而不是将其发送到数据中心。“它拍摄图像，进行分析，识别变化和重要物体，然后将结果或其中重要的部分发送到地球。”

以色列媒体在 2025 年 1 月报道称，ImiSight 允许土地管理局勘测内盖夫超过 10,700 平方公里的土地，导致超过 2,600 名以色列巴勒斯坦贝都因公民被迫驱逐。

如今，这种自动化正在给西岸带来苦难。

以色列人权组织“和平现在”（Peace Now）和“凯雷姆·纳沃特”（Kerem Navot）对比了2010年至2022年和2023年至2025年的数据，记录显示，在完全由以色列军事和行政控制的西岸C区和被占领的东耶路撒冷，拆迁数量增加了80%。2023年至2025年间，平均每年有966栋建筑被夷为平地。2025年，拆迁速度加快，仅在1月至9月期间，以色列军队就摧毁了1288座巴勒斯坦建筑。

“这里的算法就像一个‘力量倍增器’：它能扫描大片区域，确定优先目标，识别近期变化，从而加快预警和拆除进程，”达乌德说道。“政府做出果断的搬迁决定，而算法则降低了执行成本。”

执法自动化

该人工智能系统还依赖于以色列政府投入巨资建立的地面巡逻网络，这些巡逻队将非法前哨站改造成情报收集节点。2023年，以色列政府拨款3300万谢克尔（约合900万美元）用于定居者巡逻，并拨款4000万谢克尔（约合1320万美元）用于为前哨站配备无人机和摄像头。

萨菲警告说，“将人排除在外”的做法存在严重的伦理风险，在这种做法中，自动化系统在没有人工审查的情况下决定弱势群体的命运。

萨菲表示：“问题在于将一个影响深远的决定转化为一个介于0和1之间的概率方程式，以及一个数字、图像和数据之间的概率方程式。这使得犯罪分子能够推卸责任，逃脱惩罚，最终将责任推卸给算法、机构或其他未知实体。”

这项技术的运用与前所未有的定居点扩张同时展开。2023年至2025年间，以色列政府推进了超过4万套定居者住房的建设计划，并建立了185个新的定居点——所有这些都违反了国际法。另一方面，在同一时期，以色列监督驱逐了西岸118个巴勒斯坦牧民社区。

根据联合国人道主义事务协调厅 (OCHA) 和“和平现在”组织的数据，目前约有 75 万以色列定居者居住在被占领土上，在持续不断的针对巴勒斯坦人的种族清洗中，定居者暴力事件仅在 2025 年就达到了创纪录的 1836 起袭击。

与此同时，C区启动了在线土地登记制度——巴勒斯坦当局（包括殖民和隔离墙抵抗委员会）谴责该制度是旨在最终完成行政吞并的数字机制。

Daoud 强调了这种自动化执法中存在的明显双重标准，并将该系统描述为隔离的引擎。

达乌德指出：“巴勒斯坦的建筑很早就被发现，并被迅速推入拆除程序，而殖民前哨则获得资金，接入各种服务，然后进行改造，使其合法化。”

从根本上说，在西岸部署 ImiSight 系统对以色列国防工业来说具有双重盈利意义。

萨菲警告说：“巴勒斯坦领土不仅是监视场所，更是占领当局开展所有这些实地行动的绝佳环境。它利用最先进的技术训练算法，并将其准备好出售给商业公司，在全球范围内进行营销。”