Israel's Use of Facial Recognition in Gaza Sparks Controversy and Concerns

What Is Happening?

Israel is using facial recognition technology in Gaza for surveillance and security purposes.
The technology is provided by the private Israeli company Corscient.
The technology has sometimes wrongly identified civilians as Hamas militants.
There are concerns about the potential misuse and overreach of this technology.

What is the Arab media saying?

Israel is using a wide-ranging facial recognition program in Gaza for extensive surveillance of Palestinians. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]
The program is run by the Israeli military intelligence unit, including “Unit 8200”, and relies on Corscient technology. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]
The technology allowed Israel to capture faces from crowds and blurry, low-quality images taken by drones. [alquds.co.uk]
The use of facial recognition technology in Gaza may lead to “a complete dehumanization of Palestinians” where they are not viewed as individuals. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]
Israel has also used facial recognition technology in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, but its use in Gaza was more widespread. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]
Israel monitors Palestinians in Gaza through various means, including wiretapping, interrogating prisoners, collecting drone footage, and hacking communication systems. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]
After the October 7th attacks, Israeli intelligence officers contacted “Unit 8200” to obtain information about Hamas militants who breached the separation barrier. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]
The criteria for detaining Palestinians were deliberately broad, with prisoners being asked to provide names of people in their neighborhoods believed to be part of Hamas. [alquds.co.uk, aawsat.com]

What is the International media saying?

The facial recognition program was started in Gaza late last year and is being used to conduct mass surveillance, collecting and cataloging the faces of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent. [nytimes.com]
The technology was initially used to search for Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 cross-border raids, and was increasingly turned to root out anyone with ties to Hamas or other militant groups. [nytimes.com]
An Israeli ministerial panel backed a government-sponsored bill to legalize police use of facial recognition cameras in public spaces across Israel, which critics say lacks sufficient oversight. [middleeastmonitor.com]
The crisis of violence in Arab communities in Israel highlights decades of discrimination and neglect by Israeli authorities. [middleeastmonitor.com]

What is the Israeli media saying?

Israel is deploying advanced facial recognition technology in Gaza to locate terror suspects. [ynetnews.com]
The facial recognition technology is provided by the private Israeli company Corsight and is used by the Military Intelligence Directorate, including the cyber-intelligence division Unit 8200. [ynetnews.com]
Intelligence services also used Google Photos together with the facial recognition technology to identify suspects from crowds and enhance the clarity of drone footage. [ynetnews.com]
Since the ground maneuver began, Israel has become increasingly reliant on technology to locate terrorist operatives in the Gaza Strip. [now14.co.il]
After the October 7th attack, 8200 intelligence officers turned to this surveillance to gather information on the terrorists who infiltrated Israel, massacred, raped, and murdered. [now14.co.il]
The unit also scanned security camera footage of the attack, as well as videos posted by Hamas on social media, and was instructed to create a “hit list” of Hamas members who participated in the attack. [now14.co.il]

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