Thomas Bordeaux

‘It’s a type of torture’: Hear what it’s like inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ | CNN Politics CNN talked to immigrants being detained at the Florida facility and created a 3D model to explore what conditions are like inside. CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez reports.

Detainees inside Alligator Alcatraz told CNN about their experiences there, including relentless mosquitoes, open toilets, and lights kept on 24/7.

Reporters haven't been allowed inside the prison since it opened, so we built a 3D model to take you inside — and hear from the detainees firsthand.

Masked, Armed and Forceful: Finding Patterns in Los Angeles Immigration Raids - bellingcat Bellingcat collected videos and images from recent immigration raids in Los Angeles, analysing trends and apparent tactics used by law enforcement.

Armed officers, frequent use of force and people grabbed on the street or at their places of work. Working with @evidentmedia.org and @calmatters.org we have monitored the LA raids, discovering recurring trends and tactics used by officers. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/07...

We’re waiting on post strike satellite imagery of Fordow, but one detail that I haven’t seen anywhere besides our reporting for CNN is that images taken before the strike suggest there may have been attempts to reinforce the tunnel entrances. w/ @isaacyeephoto.bsky.social @averyschmitz.bsky.social

The B-2s that were in Diego Garcia in April have since returned, as far as I'm aware - they're not in satellite imagery of the base anymore, though a few could fit in the hardened shelters. This group of B-2s is looking like it's headed to Guam for now.

No, thank you!!

US moves B-2 bombers as Trump weighs Iran options | CNN Politics Multiple US B-2 bombers appear to have taken off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Friday night and are heading west, according to flight tracking data CNN has reviewed, as President Donald ...

The US military is repositioning B-2 bombers as President Trump decides on US involvement in Israel’s attacks on Iran.

HUGE shout out to @vcdgf555.bsky.social and @thenewarea51 on Twitter for being the first to share about these movements! www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/p...

Watch: CNN investigates Israel’s strikes on key Iranian officials — and their civilian toll | CNN Israel’s strikes not only took out top Iranian leaders, they also caused civilian deaths. CNN’s Katie Polglase breaks down the human toll at the locations where top Iranian officials were killed.

Investigating Israel's strikes on Iran and their impact on civilians. We cross referenced addresses of Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists from a public database with geolocated footage of strikes.

@pallabimunsi.bsky.social & Oscar Featherstone

edition.cnn.com/2025/06/19/w...

YouTube video by CNN CNN analysis explores cause of deadly Dominican nightclub roof collapse

NEW: How structural flaws reduced a Dominican nightclub to rubble

Watch our investigation of the Jet Set club collapse which killed over 230 people in April

From @stepozzebon.bsky.social, @thomasbordeaux.bsky.social, Anyi Lizardo, Maddie Araujo, and me:
youtu.be/H5UpgvxSc1A?...

YouTube video by CNN CNN analysis explores cause of deadly Dominican nightclub roof collapse

235 people were killed in April when the roof of the Jet Set nightclub came crashing down during a packed concert. We found that for years before the collapse, structural issues and warning signs went unaddressed. w/ @stepozzebon.bsky.social and @averyschmitz.bsky.social for CNN youtu.be/H5UpgvxSc1A

Visualizing Israeli airstrikes on Iran and retaliation in maps | CNN CNN is tracking where the attacks are happening and which Iranian nuclear facilities have been targeted.

New from CNN's graphics and OSINT teams: We visualized the fighting between Iran and Israel in a set of maps and annotated satellite images here: www.cnn.com/world/middle...

How Israel’s campaign to wipe out Iran’s nuclear program unfolded | CNN A CNN analysis of satellite imagery and dozens of videos shared on social media offers insight into how Israel’s wide-ranging operation unfolded across the country.

We've got a super exciting slate of investigations in the coming weeks and months, but for now, here's my first byline at CNN, about the Israeli strikes on Iran. www.cnn.com/2025/06/13/m...

This seems like as good a time as any to finally share that I’ve joined the OSINT team at @cnn.com as a freelance researcher!!

Not only the wrong location, but appears as if the black line the IDF annotated here showing the "underground terrorist infrastructure site revealed following the strike" may have been visible even before the strike.

May 8 SkySat imagery from @planet.com shows a black line with a similar shape.

June 2024 imagery, from Airbus via Google Earth shows water flowing in that same pattern.

A screencap from an infrared video filmed by an IDF drone shared on twitter by @IDFonline. The video in the post was captioned "European Hospital" and the dark lines in the school courtyard were highlighted and labeled as "The underground infrastructure exposed after the attack."

As first pointed out by @annonemo.bsky.social and @nrg8000.bsky.social, video shared by the IDF labeled as Hamas tunnels under the European Hospital shows neither tunnels nor the European Hospital - it shows water flowing in the Jenin Secondary School for Boys. Compare it to this 2024 Airbus image.

Mohammed al Bardawil, a young witness to the attack on medics who we interviewed in Gaza, was killed at the weekend when an Israeli gunboat fired on Rafah beach. His father Saeed asked our colleague Bilal Shbair today for a photo of them together when Bilal interviewed them.

Sunday's @nytimes.com carries the photos of 15 medics and rescue workers shot and killed by the IDF in Gaza in March, collected from their families and colleagues. QR links out to video reconstruct, Six Deadly Minutes. Please share. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWhN...

What Audio Analysis Reveals About Aid Workers Killed in Gaza - bellingcat Hundreds of shots fired at aid convoy that resulted in deaths of multiple aid workers, audio analysis shows.

On March 23, a convoy of aid workers, traveling in vehicles marked with emergency flashing lights, was struck by gunfire in Gaza. Bellingcat used video footage of the incident to perform an audio analysis of the shooting. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/04...

Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On (Gift Article) The U.N. has said Israel killed the workers. The video appears to contradict Israel’s version of the incident, which described the vehicles as “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency ...

Video obtained by my colleague Farnaz Fassihi shows how the IDF deliberately attacked, over several minutes, a convoy of ambulances and other emergency vehicles in #Gaza. #Israel wrongly claimed that the vehicles drove without emergency signals and headlights. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/w...

Gaza Project - Forbidden Stories Gaza Project Français English We had to unite Almost 170 Palestinian journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip after Israel launched a war of retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, ...

You can find all of the stories from the Gaza Project here forbiddenstories.org/projects_pos..., and a special thanks to @godin.bsky.social @youssr.bsky.social @magdalenahervada.bsky.social and @charleymaher.bsky.social for letting me work with them on this investigation.

Mahmoud Samir Isleem Al-Basos is pictured with his cameras.

A Planet Labs PBC SkySat and PlanetScope composite satellite image from March 2 (SkySat) and February 25 (PlanetScope) shows the location in northern Gaza where two strikes took place, one near a large area filled with hundreds of tents and one to the south in the rubble of Beit Lahia. An annotated line shows the distance to an IDF outpost near the northern Gaza border, which is about 1.8km from the first strike and IDP camp.

Devastatingly, shortly after filming for the Gaza Project, Mahmoud Al-Basos was murdered by the Israeli Military while filming an IDP camp operated by a charity in Northern Gaza. Along with Al-Basos, two other journalists and at least four charity workers were killed in the strikes.

3D model of Al-Shati overlayed on Planet Labs imagery of Gaza

3D model of Jabalia overlayed on Planet Labs imagery of Gaza

Forbidden Stories worked with a journalist in Gaza, Mahmoud Samir Isleem Al-Basos, to capture aerial photos of Al-Shati, where Al-Hajj was targeted, and Jabalia, one of the most devastated areas of Gaza. Using photogrammetry, I then processed these photos into 3D models.

Crucially, in addition to investigating their targeting, we continued the reporting on the destruction of Gaza that Thuraya and Al-Hajj had been doing. We did this through two first-of-their-kind 3D captures, which we believe are the most detailed documentation of Gaza done since the war began.

The IDF refused to respond to questions about these incidents or provide evidence for their assertions that the journalists they targeted were, in fact, terrorists. They did, however, reject outright the allegation of systemic attacks on journalists.

Bellingcat found that the closest position the IDF was known to operate at around the time of the strike was 3.5 kilometers away from Al-Hajj, and that it's unclear if the IDF was even still there when they targeted him.

A photograph of Abdallah Al-Hajj, taken in a hospital in Qatar, shows Al-Hajj after the strike, with both legs amputated. The photograph appeared in a New York Times article about those injured in the IDF's war on Gaza. https://www.nytimes.com/card/2024/11/19/world/middleeast/palestinians-qatar-israel-hamas-war

The second case we looked at was the targeting of Abdallah Al-Hajj. Al-Hajj is a drone journalist who worked for UNRWA and had just finished filming with his drone in Al-Shati Refugee Camp when the IDF targeted him. Miraculously, he survived the strike, but both of his legs had to be amputated.

Drone footage raises questions about Israeli justification for deadly strike on Gaza journalists Footage recovered from the drone of an Al Jazeera team killed by the IDF in a targeted Jan. 7 missile strike raises critical questions about the Israeli justification for the attack.

The Washington Post previously investigated their targeting using the footage Thuraya filmed that day, which showed he had only filmed the site of the strike and no IDF positions, vehicles, or troops. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/0...

Bellingcat found there was no IDF activity within five kilometers of Thuraya, calling into further question the IDF's claim that they targeted "a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops."

Mustapha Thuraya is pictured piloting a drone.

The first case we looked at was the targeting of journalist Mustapha Thuraya. Thuraya and his colleague Hamza Al-Dahdouh were killed by the IDF as they returned from filming a home leveled by an IDF airstrike.

As part of a large collaboration of a dozen newsrooms, led by @forbidden-stories.bsky.social, Bellingcat investigated two cases where journalists were targeted by the IDF shortly after they used drones to document Gaza from above.

On March 18, the war in Gaza resumed, making many casualties—including journalists reporting from the ground. As they continue to be killed in Gaza, we have pursued our investigation and followed the work of some of them.