CAIRO — Some 50,144 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. In reality, it is difficult to determine a final death toll in events we are witnessing in real time; the number may rise between the writing and publishing of these lines. The scene in Gaza cannot be confined by numbers. The tragedy surpasses the limits of time and space.
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I belong to a generation raised on the idea that Palestine is not just a political issue but a battle of existence and fate. From its early consciousness, my generation understood that aggression against Palestine is aggression against each one of us. Thousands of articles have been written about the betrayal of Arab regimes and about the brutal military machine of the occupation. But rarely do we find anyone asking: What happens after the war? The war will end one day, so will we forget what happened? Will the crimes go unpunished as they did in previous times?
From my professional experience in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this field is capable of playing an important role in condemning the occupation after the war ends. It is a witness to what has happened and continues to happen in Gaza. We can employ the tools of information systems and artificial intelligence to become a memory that documents these tragic events accurately and preserves them from being forgotten.
GIS for humanitarian aid
GIS are defined by ESRI, one of the leading companies in this field, as systems “designed to collect, store, analyze, manage and display geographic data.” They integrate maps and field information, allowing for effective management and analysis. And use a variety of software and techniques, such as satellite images.
According to Forensic Architecture, a London-based organization that uses technology to investigate human rights violations around the world, GIS is used “to track the temporal and spatial patterns of violence and destruction events, integrating satellite imagery with field data to create accurate reports of these events.”
GIS is widely used in humanitarian aid, particularly in supporting those affected by conflicts and disasters. For example, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) uses this technology in the Gaza Strip to provide educational services to more than 280,000 students in about 270 schools, in addition to establishing more than 22 health centers since its founding in 1950.
UNRWA also uses GIS to identify areas that have been targeted by Israeli occupation attacks to direct aid to the most affected areas. Maps and platforms based on this technology are also used to identify high-risk areas and the safest locations for setting up camps for the displaced.
The international NGO Human Rights Watch (HWR) uses GIS to raise public awareness about the reality of Israel’s practices against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Through GIS, HWR has been able to not only display data and information but also tell the stories of the people and provide a clear picture of the suffering and oppression experienced by the Palestinian people. HWR’s report A Threshold Crossed demonstrates how it used GIS beyond beyond data collection and display, transforming it into a medium for narrating the story of occupation and conveying the full picture of the injustice and suffering endured by the Palestinian people since the inception of that entity.
GIS as a tool for accountability
A fundamental question remains: How can this technology serve as a living memory of the war, carrying within it a continuous condemnation of the Israeli occupation after the aggression ends?
Many institutions are already working in this direction, including Forensic Architecture, Al Jazeera Media Network and the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem — an Israeli leftist organization that includes a number of Palestinian human rights activists and journalists who document the crimes of the occupation through audio, video and maps.
For example, Forensic Architecture launched an interactive platform displaying a map of the Gaza Strip and a timeline of events from Oct. 7, 2023, to Jan. 19, 2025. It forms a live record of Israel’s crimes, surpassing the capacity of any traditional database or human memory. The database displays targeted locations as well as such as cases, families, buildings and roads that have been attacked by Israel. There is a timeline of events from 2023 to 2025, and each case includes its source — whether social media or field reports — along with a description of the cause of destruction and geographic coordinates.
In 2009, Al Jazeera Labs, part of the Al Jazeera Media Network, collaborated with developers from Ushahidi, an open-source platform that collates and maps data using user-generated reports, to document events in Gaza. It was the first time Ushahidi was used in Arabic. Data was received via text messages and social media, allowing the public to report events moment by moment without the need for traditional media intermediaries.
B’Tselem, the Jerusalem-based Israeli nonprofit, uses GIS alongside other tools to prepare and display data on maps in a detailed manner, alongside real-time journalistic reports that expose the brutality of the war waged by Israel and the horrid conditions in prisons that hold thousands of Palestinians.
The organization’s Welcome to Hell report addressed the harsh and inhumane conditions at the Israeli Sde Teman detention center, used as a temporary holding facility for Gaza residents after Oct. 7, 2023. It documents live testimonies of physical and psychological torture, starvation, humiliation and lack of medical care, revealing that this prison is just part of a broader system of systematic violence practiced against Palestinians.
A memory that doesn’t die
In its project Conquer and Divide, B’Tselem created an interactive map of historic Palestine, aiming to expose and raise awareness about Israel’s policies of division and fragmentation of the Palestinian people, who now number more than 7 million.
Worldcrunch 🗞 Extra!
Know more • Israel has heavily integrated artificial intelligence and advanced technologies into its military operations during the war on Gaza, as reported by Al Jazeera. One of the most significant applications of AI has been in intelligence gathering and target selection. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly use AI-powered systems to analyze vast amounts of data from surveillance drones, satellite imagery and intercepted communications.
These systems help to identify potential militant targets and operational infrastructure used by Hamas. AI is also used in predictive analytics to assess threats and plan missions with reduced risk to Israeli soldiers. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, a highly advanced technological platform, uses radar and AI algorithms to intercept and destroy incoming rockets in real-time, minimizing civilian casualties on the Israeli side.
Yet use of such technologies has raised serious ethical and humanitarian concerns, especially regarding the scale and precision of airstrikes in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza. Critics argue that despite technological advancements, AI-driven targeting may lack the contextual understanding needed to avoid civilian harm and the rapid automation of decision-making can lead to mistakes with catastrophic consequences.
Human rights organizations have questioned whether these tools are being used in compliance with international humanitarian law, especially when civilian infrastructure is hit. While Israel claims that AI enhances precision and minimizes collateral damage, reports from the ground often show high numbers of civilian casualties, prompting debates over how military technology is applied in asymmetric warfare. — Hagar Farouk (read more about the Worldcrunch method here)
The map shows how since 1967, Israel has built separation walls and checkpoints between Palestinian cities, established illegal settlements on Palestinian land and placed security barriers in the West Bank and on the borders of Gaza in an attempt to control every detail of Palestinians’ daily lives, as if they were living in an open-air prison. The interactive map puts users at the heart of the scene, allowing them to explore a documented visual record of the Israel’s violations and the theft of Palestinian lands.
Many of these events — massacres and wars — lack documentation, and rely solely on human memory. Today, there is an urgent need to record everything, to use modern technology to preserve collective memory, so it does not fall prey to forgetting or distortion.
And although most of the tools used in GIS and AI are owned by companies that directly or indirectly support Israel, there are institutions working diligently to preserve the truth, so that the record of Palestinian suffering is not buried in oblivion.
