Israel spotted close to 1,000 possible targets each day in the opening two years of the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon through its command and control platform, according to remarks from Elbit Systems, the leading domestic arms maker.

Overall, 850,000 targets were identified live by the Israeli Tzayad digital army system in every operational area between 7 October and late 2025, the firm stated during a military event in London.

The count covers people, vehicles and additional items spotted live for potential strikes from land, sea or air, highlighting the intense pace of the lethal campaigns waged by Israel in recent years.

The 850,000 figure came up at a land warfare gathering hosted last week by the Royal United Services Institute, delivered by Miki Edelstein, an IDF reservist major general and Elbit executive vice-president.

Nato deputy chief military officer, Britain Air Chief Marshal Sir Johnny Stringer, sat beside him during the panel. Another participant was a brigadier from the British army.

Although the two senior British officers appeared on the schedule beforehand, Edelstein was listed only as a speaker to be confirmed until the session titled integrating novel with core capabilities started.

A slide shown by Edelstein to the mostly military crowd noted high-tempo operations by the Israel Defense Forces and referenced over 20,000 IDF battle plans plus 850,000 real-time intel targets.

Edelstein described the targets as previously unknown enemies that emerge from underground or through movement, which forces aim to strike precisely yet lack sufficient ammunition for immediate action.

Wes Bryant, a past senior targeting adviser and policy analyst at the US Pentagon focused on civilian harm reviews, called the 850,000 number deeply troubling.

With 2.2 million residents and 300,000 structures in Gaza before October 2023, the main conflict zone in the following two years, Bryant noted the IDF appeared to have marked up to or beyond half the population and infrastructure at some stage.

Elbit provides the IDF Tzayad, or Hunter, digital army system, a command tool that tracks friendly units and those viewed as hostile. Earlier this year the company secured a deal to advance Tzayad with artificial intelligence for tactical choices.

When reached by the Guardian, an Elbit representative rejected that the 850,000 number referred to targets, despite the slide stating so, claiming it showed aggregated system activity and operational data from the IDF digital army program in all theaters since 7 October 2023.

The representative noted it illustrated the scale of data handled by the Israeli military, representing system activity rather than enemy targets or actual strikes.

Bryant stated it would be unfeasible for troops in any force to properly review each item to confirm a genuine threat and legal target at such volumes.

Even 50 items daily is challenging though feasible, he added, so thorough collateral damage checks and civilian risk assessments for 1,000 daily or 850,000 total cannot occur.

Nato military leaders hold that state-to-state or near-state fights now move quicker than earlier counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and similar places, where more time existed to weigh targeting legality.

Israel has fought multiple wars since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 that killed 1,200 people and has faced repeated criticism for civilian deaths in intense Gaza and Lebanon operations.

A UN probe concluded Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza, an assertion the country contests in global courts.

The World Health Organization reports 71,269 Palestinians died in Gaza by year end, the main area during the period Edelstein referenced, with slightly over half being children, women and elderly.

In Lebanon, 3,961 deaths occurred during the 2024 autumn war per the health ministry, roughly a quarter women and children, while the 2026 conflict falls outside the cited timeframe.

Edelstein noted the Elbit digital army system cut external fire support time from 40 to 50 minutes down to one to seven minutes.

A later slide line, not directly mentioned, listed over 46,000 joint strikes and closing fire on real-time intel, averaging slightly above 50 daily. A human in the loop decides on fire support, Edelstein said, as it is the proper step.

Sophia Goodfriend, a Cambridge University research fellow on artificial intelligence in warfare, suggested thorough vetting of 1,000 daily targets would be very hard without AI assistance.

Any military would likely need to delegate verification to automated tools, raising accountability issues and worries over reduced human review, she said.

While Tzayad spots possible enemy moves, Israel also employs two other AI databases, Lavender and Hasbora (or the Gospel), to speed attacks on people and buildings after exhausting targets in 2014 and 2021 wars.

Lavender once flagged 37,000 people as potential targets based on suspected Hamas ties. Hasbora suggested buildings and could produce 100 targets daily, per 2023 reports.

One Israeli intelligence officer noted Lavender targets received human review for about 20 seconds each due to volume. Two officers said permission existed to accept 15 or 20 civilian deaths in strikes on lower-ranking militants early in the Gaza war.