During the 2008-2009 war in Gaza, known in Israel as ‘Operation Cast Lead’, the Israel defence Forces (IDF) committed massive war crimes while deploying the latest models of armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) – technology that could have been used precisely to reduce civilian casualties.This led to a surge in Israeli armed UAV sales abroad. As the IDF expanded its operational use of drones in Gaza, armed UAVs became one of Israel’s defence industry’s most profitable export products, helping drive Israeli defence exports up by billions of dollars.In Yotam Feldman’s film The Lab, which examines the dramatic growth of Israel’s multibillion-dollar defence exports, fueled in part by marketing Israeli weapons as combat-tested on Palestinians, Major General Yoav Gallant, who commanded the forces during the war, was interviewed. He did not shy away from saying on camera:“While certain countries in Europe or Asia condemned us for attacking civilians, they sent their officers here, and I briefed generals from 10 countries so they could understand how we reached such a low ratio [of Palestinian civilian deaths]… There’s a lot of hypocrisy: they condemn you politically, while they ask you what your trick is, you Israelis, for turning blood into money.”The Destruction of Gaza Was a Political DecisionThere may be new information in the future. But despite the intense attention paid by international media and civil society to questions of military technology and arms embargoes – and in contrast to the rapid development of new offensive weapons during the war in Ukraine – there is so far no known evidence that the IDF has used a groundbreaking offensive weapon for the first time in the current war in Gaza. This is unusual compared with previous wars fought by Israel, especially given the immense destruction of life and property in Gaza.Accordingly, Israeli defence companies have not been showcasing dramatic new weapons developed and tested in Gaza at arms exhibitions around the world. Nor has the major increase in Israeli defence exports been driven by sales of a new offensive weapon. Rather, it has resulted from sales to European, Gulf and other countries of various missile, rocket and drone defence systems – systems that were tested and successfully improved as Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis repeatedly launched attacks toward Israeli territory.The massive killing and destruction in Gaza during the current war have not been caused by the deployment of futuristic offensive weapons technology. Above all, they have resulted from a political decision by the Israeli government and military, backed by public and media support, to wage the war through brutal and primitive methods in response to the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023: crimes against humanity, revenge, scorched-earth tactics, mass killing, torture, siege and the denial of humanitarian aid; the shooting of starving civilians waiting to receive aid; and collective punishment. These are methods reminiscent of ancient times, long before the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949.In fact, Israel has carried out in Gaza, on a vastly greater scale, the brutal and primitive methods employed by the Sri Lankan government during the final phase of the country’s civil war.The Final Phase of Sri Lanka’s Civil WarIn September 2008, the Sri Lankan government launched its final offensive against the Tamil Tigers, which ended in May 2009. According to estimates, between 40,000-75,000 civilians were killed in the last five months of the war alone, most of them as a result of deliberate fire by government security forces.The final phase of the war was so deadly because President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the country’s political and military leadership made a deliberate political decision to crush the LTTE and the Tamil insurgency once and for all, without regard for legal constraints. To achieve this goal, Sri Lanka increased its defence budget, massively expanded its armed forces, and embarked on a major military procurement drive, including purchases from Israel.The offensive began with the government ordering all journalists, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations to leave the areas of fighting. Once they had been evacuated, government security forces advanced into the last areas still controlled by the Tamil Tigers.During these months, the government unilaterally declared three “no-fire zones” within the areas remaining under the Tamil Tigers’ control. Each zone was smaller than the one before it. The first covered 35.5 square kilometers; the second, 14 square kilometers; and the third and final zone, declared on May 8, 2009, just three square kilometers. Approximately 100,000 civilians were trapped inside it.The government ordered civilians to concentrate in these zones, including by dropping leaflets from aircraft that falsely promised they would not be fired upon. In practice, the Tamil Tigers also moved into the zones, while government forces continued to fire indiscriminately. The hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped there were exposed to machine-gun and rifle fire, rockets and missiles launched from the air and sea, and artillery shelling.The government falsely claimed that everyone killed was a member of the Tamil Tigers and that the offensive was a “humanitarian operation” to rescue civilians held hostage by the group. In reality, the advance of government forces was accompanied by massive bombardment of civilians, hospitals, public buildings, UN facilities and the facilities of international humanitarian organizations.Israel’s Role in Sri Lanka’s WarIsrael knows these details well. It maintained close ties with the Rajapaksa government and provided it with intelligence, artillery, aircraft and warships used in the bombardments, as well as surveillance drones that helped identify targets for attack. Numerous Sri Lankan Air Force, Navy, Army and Police officers received training in Israel, and special anti-terrorism and commando units were armed with Uzi submachine guns.Following the end of the war, Sri Lankan Chief of defence Staff Donald Perera was appointed ambassador to Israel. In an interview with the Israeli news website Ynet on July 21, 2010, Perera described the close relationship between the two countries:“I was familiar with Israel before coming here. In the framework of my previous positions as air force commander and chief of staff, I had a great relationship with your military industries and with Israel Aerospace Industries. For years Israel has aided our war on terror through the exchange of information and the sale of military technology and equipment. Our air force fleet includes 17 Kfir warplanes, and we also have Dabur patrol boats. Our pilots were trained in Israel, and we have received billions of dollars in aid over the past few years. This is why I asked to be assigned to Israel – a country I consider a partner in the war against terror. Many Sri Lankans admire Israel.”From Sri Lanka’s “No-Fire Zones” to Gaza’s “Humanitarian” ZonesAs President Rajapaksa had promised “total victory” over the Tamil Tigers, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised “total victory” over Hamas. Throughout the war, the IDF ordered Gaza’s population to move into increasingly shrinking “humanitarian” zones. Initially, fighting focused on areas that had supposedly been “evacuated,” with anyone who remained there regarded by the IDF as a legitimate target and a potential Hamas fighter – including journalists, teachers, medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers. This was also how three Israeli hostages who had managed to escape their captors were shot and killed by the IDF.As in Sri Lanka, Gaza’s designated “humanitarian” zones and civilian and humanitarian facilities quickly became killing grounds for large numbers of civilians, under the pretext that Hamas operatives had infiltrated these areas and facilities. Israel carried out massive attacks on hospitals, public buildings and facilities belonging to the UN and international humanitarian organizations. IDF officers chose to use Palestinian civilians as “human shields” to search tunnels and buildings.As in Sri Lanka, Israeli forces detained large numbers of Palestinians without trial, subjecting them to torture and abuse, denying them medical treatment, starving them and concealing their identities.AI Technology Does Not Erase ResponsibilityThe debate over the integration of AI into IDF systems, particularly for target identification, is critical. But AI is not primarily responsible for the tens of thousands of civilians Israel has killed in Gaza. Responsibility lies instead with the political and military leadership, which established the rules of engagement and instructed officers on how to use AI, and with the attorney general, who granted sweeping immunity to elected officials and other public figures who incited the destruction, burning and eradication of Palestinian cities and the population as a whole.Senior Sri Lankan government and security officials have repeatedly said in interviews and public statements that, before each attack, they watched UAV footage to verify that there were no civilians in the area, in accordance with their stated policy of “zero harm to civilians.”In practice, however, Israeli surveillance drones helped direct attacks on civilians in Sri Lanka. The widespread use of Israeli-made UAVs provided evidence that could help establish that Sri Lankan government forces deliberately attacked civilians, knowing they were present – evidence relevant to allegations of war crimes.As the UN commission wrote in its report, the opposite should have happened:“Aerial surveillance conducted by the Sri Lankan security forces should have enabled precise identification of targets, which could be engaged with weapons that offer a high degree of accuracy and minimize incidental damage to the area around the target.”Similarly, the use of AI in the war in Gaza could have reduced the number of civilians harmed. As in Sri Lanka, the IDF’s possession and use of an advanced AI system implicates its officers because they knew very well what they were doing. This was not a case of mistaken identification, but of deliberate, murderous conduct.Gallant, who, as noted above, boasted in The Lab about how Israelis “turn blood into money,” served as defence minister from the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, until November 2024. He presided over a policy of bloodshed – more bloodshed, and still more. It is reasonable to conclude that even without AI and advanced bombs, Israel would have carried out massive killing and destruction in Gaza. As in Sri Lanka, this destruction was not a technological inevitability, but the result of a political decision – and it is that political and military leadership that bears primary responsibility.Eitay Mack is an Israeli lawyer and human rights activist.