US considers changing policy in Gaza Strip

US President Joe Biden warned that he would condition support for Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip on the country taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians.

Palestinians search for missing people after an Israeli airstrike on al-Maghazi refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: EPA

Biden's warning came during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 4 after Israel's attack on World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers killed many people and sparked strong international protests, leading to calls to place conditions on US aid to Israel.

This is the first time President Biden has threatened to condition aid, a development that could change the dynamics of the nearly six-month-old war.

An Israeli government source said the country would adjust its war tactics in the Gaza Strip after the mistaken airstrike that killed seven WCK staff. The adjustment process would take several weeks and would be carried out simultaneously with the investigation into the airstrike.

In a related development, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US is reviewing media reports that the Israeli military is using artificial intelligence (AI) to help identify bombing targets in Gaza. This information was revealed after Israel's attack on WCK.

In an interview with CNN, Mr. Kirby stated that the US side has not verified the information published in +972 Magazine and Local Call recently, which quoted Israeli intelligence officials related to the program called Lavender. According to information published by the press, the Israeli army is said to have used AI to identify and mark tens of thousands of people in Gaza suspected of being related to Hamas forces, while the application of this technology was not fully supervised by humans.

In response to the above information, the Israel Defense Forces denied it.

MINH CHAU synthesis

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