How did Israel use AI to pick targets in Gaza, according to the documentary Rory Stewart watched?

Rory Stewart describes former members of an elite Israeli intelligence unit explaining that an AI system rated people as Hamas members with about 85% confidence, largely from phone data. A strike that would kill fewer than 20 civilians needed no approval higher up, larger tolls could still be authorised, and targets were often hit at home at night with their families.

• Alastair Campbell stresses that the system flagged phones that merely behaved like Hamas phones, not a list of known officials.
• Stewart notes that Hamas membership, as counted, included tens of thousands in civilian and political roles.
• The interviewees spoke on a Tel Aviv rooftop with faces and voices disguised.

▸In their words

“There was that phrase that behave like Hamas phones.” Alastair Campbell · at 24:57 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Rest Is Politics (2026-10-21). Read the whole episode summary →

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