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How commercial drones turn deadly in Gaza

Al Jazeera

In Gaza, the sound of drones can be heard everywhere. An analysis by Al Jazeera's digital investigations team, Sanad, has revealed that Israel is repurposing commercial drones to use as weapons of war in the Strip. And as drones become ever more accessible, the line between their civilian use and their military use is becoming increasingly blurred.


UN revisits 'killer robot' regulations as concerns about AI-controlled weapons grow

FOX News

The CyberGuy Kurt Knutsson joins'Fox & Friends' to discuss the U.S.-Saudi investment summit and the debate over regulation as artificial intelligence continues to advance. Several nations met at the United Nations (U.N.) on Monday to revisit a topic that the international body has been discussing for over a decade: the lack of regulations on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), often referred to as "killer robots." This latest round of talks comes as wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza. While the meeting was held behind closed doors, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres released a statement doubling down on his 2026 deadline for a legally binding solution to threats posed by LAWS. "Machines that have the power and discretion to take human lives without human control are politically unacceptable, morally repugnant and should be banned by international law," Guterres said in a statement.


Israel retrofitting DJI commercial drones to bomb and surveil Gaza

Al Jazeera

The Israeli military has been altering commercial drones to carry bombs and surveil people in Gaza, an investigation by Al Jazeera's Sanad verification agency has found. According to Sanad, drones manufactured by the Chinese tech giant DJI have been used to attack hospitals and civilian shelters and to surveil Palestinian prisoners being forced to act as human shields for heavily armoured Israeli soldiers. This is not the first time DJI drones have been modified and used by armies. There were similar reports about both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. At the time, DJI suspended all sales to both countries and introduced software modifications that restricted the areas where its drones could be used and how high they could fly.



Freedom Flotilla accuses Israel of alleged drone attack on Gaza aid ship

Al Jazeera

"This is a war crime." A representative of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition accused "Israel or one of its allies" of conducting what the group says was a drone attack on its ship carrying aid to Gaza. The Israeli government has not responded to the allegations.


Drone attack on Gaza 'Freedom Flotilla' ship

Al Jazeera

Aid workers trying to deliver supplies to Gaza were left stranded on a burning ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea after they say it was attacked by drones. The ship was part of an attempt to challenge Israel's two-month blockade of Gaza.


Drones hit 'Freedom Flotilla' Gaza aid ship in international waters

Al Jazeera

A ship carrying aid to Gaza in a bid to break Israel's blockade has been hit by drones in international waters off Malta, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the group that organised the mission. The FFC said in a statement on Friday that the vessel, now located 14 nautical miles (25km) from Malta, was the target of two drone strikes while on its way to Gaza. The ship had been seeking to deliver aid to the besieged enclave, where aid groups warn people are struggling to survive following a two-month total blockade by Israel. "Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull," the group said. The statement did not directly accuse Israel of carrying out the attack.


Gaza aid ship on fire after reported drone attack

Al Jazeera

An aid ship heading to Gaza has sent out a distress signal after crew members say it was hit in a drone attack and has caught fire. There are 30 aid workers on board the Freedom Flotilla ship, which was attempting to break Israel's 2-month aid blockade.


Israel's A.I. Experiments in Gaza War Raise Ethical Concerns

NYT > Middle East

In the past 18 months, Israel has also combined A.I. with facial recognition software to match partly obscured or injured faces to real identities, turned to A.I. to compile potential airstrike targets, and created an Arabic-language A.I. model to power a chatbot that could scan and analyze text messages, social media posts and other Arabic-language data, two people with knowledge of the programs said. Many of these efforts were a partnership between enlisted soldiers in Unit 8200 and reserve soldiers who work at tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Meta, three people with knowledge of the technologies said. Unit 8200 set up what became known as "The Studio," an innovation hub and place to match experts with A.I. projects, the people said. Yet even as Israel raced to develop the A.I. arsenal, deployment of the technologies sometimes led to mistaken identifications and arrests, as well as civilian deaths, the Israeli and American officials said. Some officials have struggled with the ethical implications of the A.I. tools, which could result in increased surveillance and other civilian killings.


Microsoft faces growing unrest over role in Israel's war on Gaza: 'Close to a tipping point'

The Guardian

For the second time in the last month, Microsoft employees disrupted high-level executives speaking at an event celebrating the company's 50th anniversary on 4 April, in protest against the company's role in Israel's ongoing siege on Gaza. The two were fired within days. The Microsoft president Brad Smith and the former CEO Steve Ballmer were shouted down at Seattle's Great Hall on 20 March by a current and former employee. The April event was preceded by a rally outside that also included current and former employees of the tech giant. Protesters projected a sign onto the hall's wall saying, "Microsoft powers genocide" – a reference to Israel's extensive use of the company's AI and cloud computing services since 7 October 2023, as "the IDF's insatiable demand for bombs was matched by its need for greater access to cloud computing services," the Guardian reported.