The Israeli army uses an extensive facial recognition program to track Hamas members. This is what several anonymous sources say to The New York Times. The army uses cameras at checkpoints, drones and other image sources for the system.
It concerns an 'extensive and experimental' system that carries out mass surveillance and collects the faces of Palestinians. Palestinians are not informed about this, multiple sources within Israeli intelligence services and the army told The New York Times. The camera system was initially used to search for hostages taken during the Hamas raid in early October.
As Israel launched its ground offensive, the military also began using the system to track Hamas members and other terrorists. The system would also wrongly identify innocent civilians as wanted Hamas members, says an anonymous officer of the Israeli intelligence service. Three of the sources contacted The New York Times because they fear that using facial recognition is “a waste of time and resources.” The Israeli army did not want to respond substantively to the article.
For the system, the Israeli army would use technology from Corsight, an Israeli company. The military would also use Google Photos. This combination would allow Israel to recognize faces in crowded environments and from grainy drone images. Corsight claims to require less than fifty percent of a face and that images from 'extreme angles', such as drone footage, or poor quality images can also be used. According to The New York Times, the Israeli army has had less good experiences with Corsight; sources say the system does not always work or makes errors. Google Photos is said to have better facial recognition.
Yet the military continues to use Corsight because it is more customizable than Google Photos. According to the sources, Israel uses this Google service by uploading a database of known faces and then applying Google's facial recognition technology to new photos.
Israel has been using facial recognition in the West Bank for some time, for example at checkpoints . Soldiers here also use smartphone apps to scan the faces of Palestinians. In Gaza, however, the system is used more widely. For example, the system is combined with drones, soldiers are given cameras to film people and cameras have been placed along important roads.