Israel identified 1,000 'real-time targets' per day over two years in Gaza, Lebanon using Elbit Systems AI
Experts and rights groups have repeatedly warned that Israel’s AI-driven weapons increase the risk of civilian casualties
News Desk 7/7/26
An Israeli command and intelligence system equipped with AI identified over 800,000 “targets” in the first two years of the wars on Gaza and Lebanon – and was used to target “up to or over half” of the besieged strip’s population and infrastructure, according to Elbit Systems.
The number of targets has prompted concerns among experts and rights organizations.
The major Israeli arms manufacturer made the announcement at a 29 June military conference in the UK.
The Israeli Tzayad digital army program allowed Tel Aviv to identify an average of 1,000 “targets” per day since 7 October 2023.
During the conference organized last week by the Royal United Services Institute, Israeli army reservist and Vice President of Elbit Systems Miki Edelstein gave a presentation detailing how the system was used.
Beside him was UK Air Chief Marshal Johnny Stringer – the second most senior military commander in NATO.
Edelstein referred to the “high tempo operations” of the Israeli army, including 20,000 battle plans and 850,000 “R.T. [real-time] intel targets.”
He went on to say that the digital army program helped boost the “speed” of external fire support from “40 to 50 minutes to one to seven minutes.”
Wes Bryant, a former senior targeting advisor and policy analyst at the Pentagon, told The Guardian that the number of real-time intel targets (850,000) shared by Edelstein at the military conference was “highly concerning.”
“There were 2.2 million people and 300,000 buildings in Gaza before October 2023 … the [Israeli army] had at one point or another targeted up to or over half the entire population and infrastructure of the territory,” he was quoted as saying.
“That there is no way each and every one of the 1,000 targets a day – let alone 850,000 targets in aggregate – are thoroughly and effectively characterized in terms of collateral damage analysis and assessed risk to civilian populations. Even characterizing 50 a day is hard enough,” he added.
Elbit Systems denied in a statement that the 850,000 figure referred to targets, despite Edelstein clearly showing that in his slide presentation during the conference.
“The figures represent system activity and operational data, rather than the number of enemy targets or actual strikes,” an Elbit Systems spokesman said.
Elbit Systems has in recent years been repeatedly targeted by pro-Palestine, UK-based activist group Palestine Action (PA), which was proscribed as a terror organization for its actions in protest of Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Members of the group have repeatedly broken into Elbit Systems headquarters and destroyed equipment used by Israel in the genocide. Last month, four members of the group were sentenced to several years in prison for an August 2024 incursion into an Elbit Systems factory in Filton.
Israel uses multiple AI-driven weapon systems that were deployed in Gaza and Lebanon. This includes systems such as Lavender and Gospel.
Last month, Haaretz reported that the Israeli army has also increasingly used AI-driven drones in Gaza and Lebanon as a “highly effective target and intel generator.”
Nearly 9,000 people have been killed by Israel in Lebanon since Hezbollah opened the Gaza support front in October 2023.
Over 4,000 alone have been killed since the latest round of fighting erupted in March this year. Scores of villages and towns in southern Lebanon have been wiped out.
Currently, the official Palestinian death toll from the Gaza genocide, since 7 October 2023, stands at over 73,000.
Researchers and medical journals such as The Lancet have said the actual number may be much higher – potentially in the hundreds of thousands, including indirect deaths.
Israel killed over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza since US President Donald Trump unveiled his so-called peace plan in October 2025.
While Tel Aviv claims it prioritizes “precision,” rights groups and research centers have repeatedly concluded that the Israeli army’s use of AI-driven weaponry increases the risk of harm to civilians.
“AI is being used to plan and conduct attacks at a speed and scale that can make meaningful precautions difficult or impossible. A party’s deliberate compression of the time available to verify targets and assess civilian harm cannot excuse a failure to take the precautions international humanitarian law requires,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last month.
“In Gaza, HRW has documented Israel’s use of four digital tools that rely on faulty data and inexact approximations, increasing the risk of civilian harm and creating conditions in which Israeli forces … violate international humanitarian and human rights law,” HRW added.