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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-785690
IDF Technology Unit Applies Big Data to Save Lives in Gaza War
(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob - The IDF Lotem Technology Unit's big data collection and analysis capabilities are being applied to the Gaza war. On Oct. 17, at a time when Hamas was still firing hundreds of rockets per day, including large numbers toward Rishon Lezion, Lotem analysts broke down Hamas rocket firing patterns to determine where they would most likely place their rocket launchers to hit a funeral procession of the extended Zohar family in Rishon Lezion for family members killed by Hamas at Nahal Oz. The analysis led to concrete attacks by the IDF against Hamas targets. There were other cases where the IDF utilized big data to redirect firepower at specific areas on a predictive basis of where Hamas rocket launchers would be located. In another specific case, Lotem traced a pattern of rockets being fired toward Israel from a mosque and a school in a Gaza civilian area and was able to target the rocket-launching crews. Before the IDF invaded Gaza, Lotem analyzed where Hamas was likely to position its forces to be able to attack soldiers as they entered critical areas. The IDF was then able to preemptively target these areas, paving the way for a much cleaner entry by IDF ground forces into Gaza with much fewer casualties than had been anticipated. Lotem also enabled the IDF to preemptively target parts of Gaza where Hamas would need to place its rocket launchers to try to strike IDF mass staging areas near the border before the troops would enter.