Israel weaponises AI for West Bank demolitions

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.

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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.”