Israel utilizes Amazon’s cloud service, AI tools to store data for war on Gaza
(MENAFN) Reports from a magazine and a Hebrew-language news site reveal that the Israeli army has been utilizing Amazon's cloud service and artificial intelligence (AI) tools from Microsoft and Google for military purposes, particularly in relation to data on Palestinians and Gaza. An audio recording obtained by these outlets discloses that Col. Racheli Dembinsky, commander of the Israeli army's Center of Computing and Information Systems Unit, discussed the use of these technologies during a presentation on July 10 to around 100 military and industrial personnel.
The Center of Computing and Information Systems is responsible for overseeing all data processing for the Israeli army. In her presentation, which marks the first public confirmation of such usage, Dembinsky outlined how cloud storage and AI services from major tech companies are being employed in the ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7. The logos of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure were featured prominently in her lecture slides, which detailed the army’s "operational cloud" that is typically hosted on internal military servers.
Dembinsky described this internal cloud as functioning as a “weapons platform,” incorporating applications designed for marking bombing targets, accessing live drone footage over Gaza, and managing fire, command, and control systems. She highlighted that after the Israeli army’s ground invasion of Gaza in late October 2023, the internal military systems faced significant strain due to the rapid influx of new users—soldiers and military personnel—which led to technical issues that threatened to disrupt the army’s operational effectiveness.
The use of civilian cloud and AI technologies for military purposes has raised concerns and garnered attention, reflecting the increasing integration of advanced tech tools in modern warfare and the complexities of managing large-scale military operations.
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