10/12/2023–|Last updated: 10/12/202312:35 AM (Mecca time)
Last October 22, the Israeli occupation army published video footage of the “Magellan” unit using a new high-precision mortar shell, called the “Iron Sting,” in its bombing of civilians inside the Gaza Strip. These missiles were announced by the Israeli company Elbit Systems since March 2021, but they were used for the first time in the current war on the Gaza Strip, according to what the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported (1).
Infantry teams usually use mortar shells in combat zones, and the Qassam Brigades themselves also use them against occupation soldiers, but the accuracy of regular mortar shells remains fairly low, which requires the use of large numbers of them, and here comes the value of these advanced shells, which the company states were designed to engage “Fixed targets with a high degree of accuracy, using laser or GPS guidance.”
This advanced missile is only one of the new weapons that Israel is using in its brutal war on Gaza now, but it is not the only new weapon that it is testing in the current war. In fact, the occupying state has long resorted to testing new weapons in its wars against defenseless innocents in Gaza and elsewhere.
AI planes
A report in the newspaper “Politico” (2) indicated that hours after the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack, the Israeli occupation army quickly wrote to Skydio, an American technology company working in the production of drones, and asked it to supply short reconnaissance drones. Al Mada relies on artificial intelligence to move without the need for human guidance, and is used to conduct three-dimensional scanning of complex engineering structures such as buildings of various types.
Within the three weeks after the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” the American company sent more than 100 new drones of this type to the occupation army, with a promise to send more in the future, according to Mark Valentine, the company’s executive director responsible for government contracts. However, Skydio was not the only American company receiving requests from the occupation army to send this type of aircraft. According to the American newspaper, the Gaza war created a demand for these advanced military technologies, which rely on artificial intelligence, and are provided by relatively small-sized technology companies.
All of this comes at a time when the occupation army is already using self-driving drones from the American company ShieldAI, namely Nova2 drones, but this type of drone is only used inside buildings, as it depends on planning… Trajectories and computer vision algorithms for autonomous movement inside buildings without the need for GPS or human guidance (3).
Other reports also indicated that Israel asked the United States to purchase 200 “Switchblade 600” suicide drones, which are aircraft that have an advanced camera, can carry an amount of explosive materials, and have the ability to receive information from nearby drones. (4). The Switch Build 600 is primarily used to attack nearby targets. This model has a range of up to 40 kilometers and the ability to fly for 40 minutes. These are the same aircraft that the US Army provided to Ukraine last year in its war against Russia.
Bombardment with algorithms
The Israeli army uses artificial intelligence not only for these modern marches, but also benefits from it in identifying targets on the ground during bombing. After the war on Gaza in May 2021, officials stated that Israel fought its “first war in the field of artificial intelligence,” but the current war provided the opportunity for the occupation army to use these technologies in a much broader theater of operations than the previous time, especially with regard to the target identification platform. With artificial intelligence known as “The Gospel”.
The occupation army uses “Jospel” to estimate the number of civilian casualties in bombing, suggest the most relevant targets for attack within a given vicinity, and calculate the amount of ammunition needed. These algorithms are considered one of the most destructive and deadly bombing methods in the twenty-first century, according to a report by the French newspaper “Liberation” (5).
The newspaper quoted Israeli media outlets as saying that the use of these technical solutions explains how the Israeli army was able to bomb the Gaza Strip at such a frenetic pace. According to the occupation army’s figures, 15,000 sites were bombed during the first 35 days of the war on the Strip, and it admitted that the “Gospel” algorithm allowed it to Automatically sets goals at a fast pace. It also reported that the occupation army said that the “Gospel” algorithm recorded 100 targets per day for bombing, while the army was setting 50 targets annually in Gaza to bomb them, and former army officers described the algorithm as a “mass assassination factory.”
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The “Gospel” system relies on information and images from drones and information coming from intercepted communications. It also uses watchtower data to monitor the movements of targeted individuals, then gives instructions on targets to be attacked, with an indication of the number of people likely to be killed in the bombing.
In mid-June, an Israeli official explained to Bloomberg that two models were being used to build a data set based on algorithms regarding specific targets, with the aim of calculating the amount of potential ammunition, prioritizing and assigning thousands of targets to aircraft, and proposing a schedule for raids (6). According to the same official, these systems are subject to a human operator who examines and approves the targets and air strike plans. It is noteworthy that the program does not take the decision itself, but rather leaves it to the unit commander, who presses the destroy button after he receives the list of targets.
New weapons of destruction
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper also reported that several new weapons, specifically for the infantry, were being tested during the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, and as part of the US administration’s continued support for Israel, the Pentagon sent the occupation two new shoulder-fired missiles, the “Leo.” And “MGM-1 Matador”. These new missiles will be included in the current arsenal of the infantry brigades participating in the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. They are 50% larger than the missiles currently available to the occupation army, and have a wider scope of destruction (7).
The newspaper also indicated that the infantry forces began using the latest version of the IWI Negev 7 machine gun in the war on the Gaza Strip. It is a weapon produced by the Israeli Weapon Industries (IWI), and uses a bullet with a diameter of 7.62 mm, which gives it greater strength in penetrating walls.
The newspaper also reported that the occupation army used new night vision technologies for the first time in the war through the use of the new night vision device (IDO), which is a device that provides a three-dimensional image and is easy to use for long periods of time. The device can be easily attached to the front of a helmet and helps with night vision in one or both eyes.
In 2019, the occupation army began using a smart telescope on weapons called the “Dagger.” During the current war, the third generation of this telescope began to be used for the first time. It is supposed to have an advanced system that uses photoelectric sensors and processes images with artificial intelligence to track… goals accurately. The Israeli army also used for the first time the “Eitan” personnel carrier to operate alongside Israeli armored vehicles such as the “Tiger”. The Eitan is an armored fighting vehicle based on the technologies used in the “Merkava” series of tanks and the “Tiger” armored infantry fighting vehicles, and it is a newly developed version (8). .
The Eitan vehicle has 8 wheels, and is much lighter than the “Nimr” armored vehicle, and is significantly cheaper than it in cost. It may have been used because of the high cost of using the “Nimr” and the success of the resistance forces in destroying it at unprecedentedly high rates during the ground invasion, which put pressure on the cost of the war in Gaza for Israel.
Israel is trying to bring out everything it has in this confrontation, and is using the latest modern and advanced weapons in its arsenal and that of its allies, but despite all these weapons, and in a war of extermination against the children, women, elderly, and men of Gaza, the occupation army has not yet been able to achieve any real goals. Remember who was behind that war? Most importantly, the Palestinian resistance stands in the face of all these technologies with unparalleled valor and courage, to confirm to everyone that development and weapons do not win wars alone, the most important thing is the person who uses those weapons.
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Sources:
1) IDF makes first operational use of Iron Sting precision mortar munition
2) Israel’s appetite for high-tech weapons highlights a Biden policy gap
3) Nova 2
4) Israel requests the purchase of 200 suicide drones from the United States
5) How is the Israeli army using artificial intelligence to bomb Gaza?
7) New weaponry used by troops in Gaza
8) After the tank holocaust…what will Israel do in the second phase?
