The Israeli Army has recently begun acquiring advanced technological systems to be installed in the occupied West Bank, including surveillance towers and mechanisms designed for remote firing.

Israeli Army Radio reported on Sunday that the Israeli military is set to deploy autonomous guns capable of tracking “targets” [Palestinians] when firing ammunition at strategic sites in the occupied West Bank, despite these systems having largely failed and been disabled on October 7 during Operation al-Aqsa Flood.

The Israeli Army has recently begun acquiring advanced technological systems to be installed in the occupied West Bank, including surveillance towers and mechanisms designed for remote firing. The Israeli military reportedly plans to position dozens of these systems at key settlement entrances to deter “infiltration”.

According to the report, the systems tailored for West Bank operations are already in production. In the initial phase, the army will prioritize areas deemed most vulnerable, with plans to expand the deployment in the future.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    31·
    11 hours ago

    I’m confused, are these guns autonomous or are they “remote controlled”. The article describes them as both. And why is the sex of the operator relevant?

    But even if these were true robot killing machines, they seem to serve the same function as landmines (area denial) and they simply can’t be more cruel than that technology.

    • AnyOldName3@lemmy.world
      5·
      15 hours ago

      The article says

      The Israeli military has used the system in the Gaza Envelope since 2008, but it failed to prevent the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, after being destroyed and disabled by Palestinian Resistance forces.

      So it looks like they’ve had this for quite a while.

      I’d definitely heard about it before 2022 as I was at the recording for the 2021 BBC Reith Lecture on autonomous weapons (fun fact - free BBC recordings do not advertise this, but often provide free beer and wine) and was expecting one of the topics to be the potential to automate things like this. I was also expecting already-automated CIWS systems (which protect ships from incoming missiles, so you don’t necessarily have enough time for a human to confirm a target after radar contact is established) to come up, including the times they’ve already killed people in friendly fire incidents.