Israel escalates carnage in Gaza using booby-trapped robots: Rights group

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has raised concerns over the Israeli military's deployment of booby-trapped robots in northern Gaza, warning that the technology is being used to carry out "massive acts of destruction and killing."

“The Israeli occupation army is using booby-trapped robots equipped with tons of explosives to commit massive acts of destruction and killing, including massacres, willful killing, enforced starvation, and widespread forced displacement in northern Gaza,” said the Geneva-based rights group.

It also touched on other acts of aggression carried out by Israel in northern Gaza, saying,” Israel’s army has completely cut off the northern Gaza Governorate from Gaza City by deploying military vehicles, placing sand barriers and the rubble of destroyed homes, in addition to fire cover from drones.”

The Euro-Med Monitor quoted an eyewitness trapped in an area near the Al-Qassabi neighborhood, southwest of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, saying, “On Wednesday evening (9 October), a huge explosion occurred in the Al-Qassabi neighborhood, close to where we were. There was an enormous explosion sound. That was the loudest I have ever heard it. We can now differentiate between different explosion sounds, so we can determine if this sound is coming from artillery, aircraft, or another source.”

“In fact, the sound of the explosion was actually louder than the sound of air strikes, to the point that white dust covered the entire area. It was subsequently discovered that this explosion was caused by a robot equipped with tons of explosives, destroying roughly six or seven houses at once. Regardless of whether civilians are inside the houses or not, the occupation army blows up the robot,” the eyewitness added.

The Euro-Med Monitor's field team also said two additional robots were detonated by the Israeli military in the Tawam and Zahraa neighborhoods, west of the Jabalia refugee camp, adding that “another was detonated at the Abu Ali Mustafa intersection in Bir al-Naja, also west of Jabalia camp.”

In defiance of a UN General Assembly resolution passed last year calling for the regulation of autonomous weapons systems, the Israeli military continues to use booby-trapped robots to destroy buildings and neighborhoods in northern Gaza, where around 400,000 Palestinians are trapped.

Tel Aviv abstained from voting on the resolution.

Since the onset of its genocidal campaign in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has employed an AI system called "Lavender" and a tool named "Gospel" to target and destroy civilian and non-military structures in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The ongoing Israeli onslaught has resulted in over 42,300 deaths, the majority being women and children, with nearly 100,000 injured across the blockaded Gaza Strip.

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