'Apartheid automation': How Israel uses AI to monitor Palestinian land, movement and lives

From detecting changes to Palestinian homes through satellite imagery to scanning faces at military checkpoints and identifying people for deadly strikes, Israel's expanding use of artificial intelligence is raising concerns about how automated technology is being used to control Palestinian lives.

In the occupied West Bank, AI-powered systems are helping Israeli authorities monitor land, buildings and movement, raising fears that the technology could facilitate demolitions and accelerate displacement.

In Gaza, investigations have documented accounts of AI-generated lists of suspected targets being used to inform military strikes, with Israeli intelligence officers describing approval processes that sometimes took just seconds.

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"It's all apartheid automation," Mustafa Jarrar, professor of AI at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and director of SinaLab, told Anadolu. "What is new now is that the AI is not only collecting and analysing, but also can make orders," he said.

Palestinian researcher Jalal Abukhater warned that the expanding surveillance systems were helping reinforce Israeli control. "The pattern of behaviour, the movement, the people you speak to, it's all monitored and going to one purpose: to aid the Israeli occupation in dominating and controlling this population," Abukhater, the policy manager for Palestinian digital rights organisation 7amleh, told Anadolu.

AI tool identifies changes to Palestinian land

A September 17 report by Al Jazeera highlighted ImiSight, an AI-powered tool reportedly used to identify changes to buildings and land, helping Israeli authorities detect structures they consider unauthorised and target them for enforcement.

Initially used in the Naqab desert, where Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel face restrictive building policies and demolitions, the technology has reportedly been introduced in the occupied West Bank, raising concerns about the use of automated surveillance to expand Israeli control over Palestinian land.

Israeli media reported in January 2025, citing Israel Land Authority figures, that ImiSight helped survey about 10,735 square kilometres (4,145 square miles) in 2024. The authority said it opened about 495 enforcement proceedings following detections by the system and inspections on the ground.

Enforcement operations contributed to the eviction of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel.

Jarrar explained that AI systems can compare satellite images taken at different times to detect changes to structures and flag them for further inspection, allowing authorities to identify buildings for potential enforcement action.

Researcher Abukhater said that before such systems were deployed, the process required officials to inspect sites in person before authorities sent forces and bulldozers to demolish structures. “It would require, you know, human individuals going in to check and verifying,” Abukhater warned, adding that such technologies could accelerate demolitions and deepen Israeli control over Palestinian communities.

Demolitions accelerate amid restrictions

The technology's reported expansion comes amid rising demolitions of Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank.

Across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, more than 1,100 structures had been demolished in 2026 by the time of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)'s September reporting, displacing more than 1,500 Palestinians.

According to OCHA data, the annual average number of structures demolished by Israel in Area C over lack of building permits rose about 80%, from 537 in 2010-2022 to 966 in 2023-2025. Area C accounts for roughly 60% of the West Bank and remains under full Israeli administrative and security control. Palestinians face severe restrictions on obtaining construction permits, leaving many structures vulnerable to demolition.

Read More: UN official sounds alarm about Gaza, West Bank year after ceasefire

In April 2025, an Israel Land Authority enforcement unit was established to operate in the West Bank, according to the UN. Israeli rights group Peace Now described the move as a step toward annexation, while the UN warned it would intensify discriminatory building-permit enforcement and deepen Palestinian displacement.

In March 2025, ImiSight said its technology helped the authority identify unauthorised land use through satellite imagery, drones and aerial photography, reducing delays in enforcement. “Years of AI-driven insights have transformed enforcement operations, reducing delays and enabling rapid, effective action in the field!” the company said in a blog post.

Abukhater estimated that the number of demolitions carried out since the introduction of these AI-supported systems has doubled. "These entire systems are designed in a way to entrench the occupation, to empower the occupation with tools that could accelerate its actions against Palestinian communities," he added.

Facial recognition tracks Palestinians

Surveillance extends beyond land and buildings to the people living in the occupied territory. In a May 2023 report, Amnesty International documented Israel's use of Red Wolf, a facial recognition system deployed at military checkpoints in Hebron.

Red Wolf scans Palestinians' faces without their consent and compares them with biometric databases to help determine whether they can pass through checkpoints.

Amnesty also documented the Blue Wolf smartphone application and Wolf Pack database, which Israeli forces use to collect and access information about Palestinians. The organisation said the systems reinforced restrictions on freedom of movement, particularly in Hebron's H2 area, which remains under Israeli control.

It also documented extensive camera surveillance in occupied East Jerusalem, warning that facial recognition technology undermined privacy and discouraged political activity.

Abukhater said Palestinians were being photographed at both checkpoints and during military raids on homes. "They just take a phone and take a photo of the person's face," he said, describing instances in which soldiers photographed Palestinians at checkpoints even when they did not present identification.

He also described nighttime raids in which soldiers photographed residents, including children. "The soldiers have targets, and they are told that you should photograph 100 Palestinians a day," he added.

Abukhater said the information gathered could be used to build extensive profiles of Palestinians, including their movements, relationships and personal histories. He described the wider system as "a big prison" and said Palestinians were subjected to surveillance that restricted their fundamental rights.

Jarrar said information from cameras, smartphones and vehicle identification systems could be combined to build detailed profiles of individuals. He also said that Israeli forces hack Palestinians' private cameras. "You identify human, you identify car … different kinds of objects," he said. "You monitor them all the time and so you identify targets."

He explained that AI could also detect unusual travel patterns, such as someone taking a different route between Ramallah and Nablus. “AI will detect a new pattern and will quickly, basically click alarms,” he said.

From surveillance to military targeting

Along with the system documented in the occupied West Bank primarily that involve monitoring and surveillance, investigations into Israel's operations in Gaza have raised separate concerns about AI-assisted military targeting.

An April 2024 investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call, based on interviews with six Israeli intelligence officers, reported that an AI system known as Lavender identified suspects as potential bombing targets, and marked as many as 37,000 Palestinians during the early stages of the war.

One intelligence source described personnel acting as a "rubber stamp" for the system's recommendations, sometimes spending only about "20 seconds" reviewing a target before approving an attack.

Also Read: Over 800 Palestinian teachers killed by Israel since Gaza war: education ministry

Jarrar warned that such rapid approval processes could leave little room for meaningful scrutiny. "It's all fully automated," he said of the process he described, calling it "machine killing, basically."

The investigation also identified a system known as Where's Daddy?, reportedly used to track suspected targets and determine when they entered their family homes. With the system, according to the award-winning NAZA documentary, a phrase as simple as “daddy’s home,” can trigger a bombing.

Jarrar said the wider use of such technologies should concern governments and researchers beyond the region. "Israel is actually pushing and encouraging other countries to do the same," he said. "It's being a model."

Abukhater warned that the spread of such technologies could accelerate violations against Palestinians in the West Bank as well. "My concern is that these tools are accelerating the plans of ethnic cleansing, of entrenching the occupation, of solidifying the annexation of Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank," he said.

Technology companies face scrutiny

The expanding use of surveillance technology has also raised questions about international companies providing digital services to Israeli security agencies.

Microsoft came under scrutiny in 2025 after The Guardian reported that an Israeli military intelligence unit used its Azure cloud platform to store recordings of Palestinian phone calls collected through surveillance in Gaza and the West Bank.

On September 25, 2025, Microsoft said a review had found evidence supporting elements of the reporting, including the use of Azure storage in the Netherlands and AI services. The company disabled specified cloud-storage and AI services used by a unit within Israel's Defence Ministry, saying its terms prohibited mass surveillance of civilians.

"This is a direct complicity by private company actors with Israeli state actors who are directly violating rights," Abukhater said. "It's something that these companies should be held accountable for." Jarrar also urged stronger international rules governing the use of AI in military operations.

"We need really a new international law regarding the use of AI in automated killing," he said.