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- Israel warned Gazans to head south to safety when the war against Hamas broke out.
- Israeli forces have since bombed civilian areas in south Gaza, a New York Times investigation found.
- The Times' report used AI tools to identify satellite images of craters likely caused by bombs.
A New York Times investigation has revealed Israeli military forces have used massive 2,000-pound bombs to attack southern Gaza — the same area Israel assured Gazan civilians would be safe.
The report from the Times' Visual Investigations team used artificial intelligence tools to study satellite imagery of south Gaza.
The New York Times trained the AI to recognize signs of craters that could have been caused by bombs.
The tool found 1,600 possible bomb craters, according to the Times investigation. Times reporters then manually combed through each possible match, weeding out false positives like water towers or craters left from previous conflicts.
The investigation found evidence that Israel bombed the area it said would be safe for civilians with devastating 2,000-pound bombs at least 200 times.
Business Insider's Jake Epstein previously reported that the 2,000-pound bombs (which Israeli forces used on a "routine basis" at the beginning of the war, according to the Times) are accurate, but their explosive power creates an "extreme" area of effect that poses a risk to civilians.
"When you're talking about a densely populated area like Gaza, there's going to be certain concerns about collateral effects, particularly widespread collateral effects," Marc Garlasco, a former UN war-crimes investigator, told BI.
Garlasco said the pressure from the bomb's blast can kill people as far as 100 feet away, and lethal shards of shrapnel can be flung up to 1,200 feet.
Israel's allies are questioning its methods
Israel has defended its bombing campaign in Gaza, saying it is focused on wiping out Hamas and is taking steps to minimize civilian casualties.
Since ground forces have moved into Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces have shared videos and photos it claims are proof that Hamas is using civilian areas to hide armaments and mask its movements.
"Hamas exploited its own people as shields to conceal their terrorist activity," the IDF wrote on Thursday.
But even Israel's allies are expressing concern over the thousands of lives lost in Gaza since Hamas launched deadly terror attacks on Israel on October 7.
The Biden administration has continued sending bombs to Israel but is now pushing back on Israel's conduct.
During his visit to Israel this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism but urged Israel to make more "concerted efforts to protect civilians and ensure humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza."
The war — and the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza — have ripped open divisions among President Joe Biden's Democratic base. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll suggested that young voters are furious with Biden's response to the war and are even considering voting for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the UK's Foreign Secretary David Cameron pushed Israel to do more to minimize civilian deaths.
"We want to see a much more surgical, clinical, and targeted approach when it comes to dealing with Hamas," Cameron said.