In the opening days of the latest clash between Israel and Hamas, aviation and missile strikes quickly rained down on targets. A mid-level estimate from the Israeli investigative outlet +972 counted a thousand sites hit within a short stretch, and in a recent strike on the Gazan enclave of Jan Yunis, fifty-six targets were struck in five minutes. The intensity and speed of this bombardment mark a new peak in the use of military power, where rapid action against many locations appears to be the name of the game.
There is no precedent for so many targets being hit so fast. This swift, concentrated campaign reflects a war where precision over maps and data matters as much as force. It may be the first major conflict where artificial intelligence plays an increasingly central role in decision-making and targeting, moving from a supporting element to a driving factor in how operations unfold.
A phenomenon that began to emerge in the Ukraine conflict has become more visible in the Middle East arena. In discussions held at the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies in Madrid, the Spanish legal general Jerónimo Domínguez Bascoy described a new dynamic: within seconds, hundreds of potential attack points can be identified, a task that would have taken human teams weeks to complete in the past.
El Evangelio
A veil of official secrecy surrounds the true reach of the program known as Habsora – the Evangelio – as data on its inner workings remains scarce. It is credited with processing vast streams of information: vehicle registrations, phone data, social media posts, video stills shared over messaging apps, security camera footage, census records, and intelligence reports. The aim is to assemble a comprehensive file of opponents and their critical sites.
From the outset of the Gaza conflict, Israel has pursued a strategy of deterrence through devastating strikes, with the goal of eradicating Hamas and neutralizing a large portion of its estimated 30,000 fighters. Habsora pulls from a flood of online data to locate homes, warehouses, and command hubs. Early in the fighting, entire residential blocks were collapsed, reportedly tied to the residence of Hamas leaders, as seen in initial operations.
Questions persist about Habsora’s true capabilities. A recent assessment from the Royal United Services Institute in the United Kingdom notes doubts, yet senior officers in the Spanish military contend that the system has aided in marking Hamas residences, rocket silos, arsenals, missile assembly sites, and even tunnel mouths based on satellite imagery and reconnaissance drone footage. There are suggestions of another AI-assisted tool for mapping command posts, though details remain sparse.
Map and Precision Engagement
The Israeli General Staff has access to virtual guidance that helps in selecting and prioritizing targets. Beyond Habsora, two other AI-assisted programs are said to contribute to battlefield awareness. One is Alchemist, used to help coordinate and alert ground units. The other bears a name some analysts find almost legendary in its specificity, a label that translates to Depth of Wisdom, which has been discussed by North American defense commentators as a possible enabler for deeper understanding of subterranean networks.
The latter tool is described as aiding in drawing a map of Hamas tunnels, their reach, and depth, enabling air strikes capable of striking into urban terrain up to about 35 meters deep. In less secretive terms, artificial intelligence is also said to sharpen the aim of soldiers on the ground. A weapon sight designed by an Israeli tech company helps soldiers fire more accurately against both aerial threats and ground targets. The Smash x4 system, produced by Smart Shooter, is used to allow a single soldier to neutralize drones with impressive accuracy.
The company’s marketing emphasizes that advanced image processing lets Smash recognize targets and predict movement. The system is advertised to stay locked onto a target even if the operator or the target moves, enabling precision against air and land threats. While this is presented as a battlefield advantage for ground troops, another perspective from Haaretz describes a broader role for AI in shaping cognitive aspects of the conflict.
Measurement Without Error
Soldiers equipped with weapon sights that include these assistive capabilities are now deployed in urban warfare, where fighting through rubble, around corners, and in tight spaces is common. The interconnected devices help keep soldiers visible to one another, creating a mesh of identifiable combatants through matching sighting codes. The provider’s claims that no other Western military force has this level of technology has drawn attention, encapsulated in the company motto, one shot, one hit.
Yet the practical utility described by Haaretz suggests an even wider use. Beyond direct combat, the same AI tools are associated with cognitive warfare, including the dissemination of propaganda and images of destruction in Gaza through fabricated social media profiles designed to undermine morale in the opposing side.
This evolving picture shows a conflict where machines help pick targets, direct missiles, and shape the information landscape. The next chapters of this story may test how quickly AI-assisted systems adapt to new environments and how governments balance security gains with the risks of misidentification and ethical concerns.