Israel used swarm of drones to attack Hamas

The Israeli Defense Forces employed artificial intelligence to identify and strike targets in the Gaza Strip, according to a report from the New Scientist, which alleged it may be the first time a drone swarm has been used in combat.

Drone swarms have been characterized as the next phase of war fighting, whereby "hundreds of drones that integrate their actions using emergent behavior".

Drones are typically guided by a human operator, but drone swarms represent a step forward in military technology by flying as one integrated network controlled by artificial intelligence.

The swarm requires only a single human operator to direct the entire swarm and before the drones guide themselves to locate the targets as a connected unit.

The news comes just weeks after Israel announced the successful testing of a new laser defence system that can shoot down enemy missiles by burning a hole in them.