How we verified videos of demolitions in Gazapublished at 16:10 British Summer Time 18 July
Benedict Garman
BBC Verify senior journalist
Moving back to our story on the demolitions of buildings in Gaza by the Israeli military, we’re going to walk you through how our journalists carry out investigations like this.
We verified scores of videos showing scenes of destruction by the Israeli military. Israel restricts international journalists from entering Gaza, but at BBC Verify we monitor hundreds of social media feeds related to the war across TikTok, Telegram, X and Facebook.
Some accounts share videos filmed by soldiers and contractors working for Israel. As well as general scenes of destruction, many of these include the exact moment of demolition, either with controlled explosions, or with construction machinery like excavators and bulldozers.
By matching features in these videos to satellite imagery and pre-existing geolocated footage – for example, street level videos filmed by Palestinians – it was possible to establish their location. Then comparing satellite photos of the same places helped narrow down the time frame in which the demolitions happened, as the day a video is published is not necessarily the day it was filmed.
We only focused on videos depicting demolitions since Israel withdrew from the ceasefire in March.
There are many more verified videos which show construction vehicles moving around Gaza, under the guard of the Israeli military.