Israel has deployed a mass facial recognition program in the Gaza Strip, creating a database of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent, The New York Times reports. The program, which was created after the October 7th attacks, uses technology from Google Photos as well as a custom tool built by the Tel Aviv-based company Corsight to identify people affiliated with Hamas.
That’s like asking why the US military would lean heavily on its intelligence apparatus while operating in some developing country with 0.01% of the military power.
Knowledge is power, and it gives you options. Maybe the surveillance helps them find high priority targets faster. Maybe it saves an Israeli life or two. Maybe all they care about is killing Palestinians, and their surveillance lets them see population movements in real time.