Ben van der Merwe

The analysis is based on the time lag between two sounds produced by gunfire: the “crack” produced by the bullet as it flies past at supersonic speed, and the “bang” produced by the gun itself.

The lag between the two can be used to estimate how far away the gun is from the recording device.

Two independent forensic audio experts told Sky News that the recording of the attack provided by PSRC shows that the first shots were fired from 40-50 metres away.

By the end of the video, the experts estimated, the shots were being fired from 12-18 metres away

The finding contradicts the IDF’s claim that there was “no firing from close distance”.

15 aid workers were killed in the attacks that morning.

Israeli troops shot at medics from as close as 12 metres, audio analysis suggests Analysis shared with Sky News calls into question Israel's claim that there was "no firing from close distance" in the IDF attack which killed 15 aid workers last month.

NEW: IDF shot at unarmed medics from as close as 12 metres

With @oliveelineham.bsky.social @adamparkr.bsky.social and Michelle Inez Simon
news.sky.com/story/israel...

Illegal casinos are using Roblox to draw children into online gambling A Sky News investigation has found a network of illegal casinos allowing children to gamble using their accounts on the hugely popular children's game Roblox. In response to our investigation, the Gam...

Illegal online casinos are using Roblox to draw children as young as 12 into online gambling - @bvdm.bsky.social and
I have been investigating for Sky News:

Following my inquiries, the CIA has agreed to add a disclaimer to the data.

Probably few people will see it, however. Much of the damage has already been done.

Well, they didn't - it's a modelled estimate.

And crucially, all the data was collected (and the modelling performed) before the war began.

The 2% figure was calculated in *August 2023*.

The Bureau confirmed to me that estimates and projection do not consider any data after that time.

The CIA doesn't make it easy to find their source, but it's the US Census Bureau.

Here we see the same claim: that the population grew 2% in 2024.

How did the Census Bureau gather this data, given the conditions on the ground in Gaza?

The claim that Gaza's population grew by 2% this year is taken straight from the CIA's World Factbook.

This is a healthy growth rate, barely changed from the year before.

And notably the death rate is actually *lower* than before.

What's going on?

This post is misinformation, and the CIA is to blame.

A lesson in data presentation🧵

This is how we went about verifying the strike footage from Dnipro.

The first piece of footage was this, while its poor quality the pattern of chimneys and spire at the end of the residential buildings match.

What satellite images tell us about North Gaza as report accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' The Israeli military's latest offensive in northern Gaza began last month. While it's difficult to understand the full extent of the operation with independent media access into Gaza denied by Israel,...

What satellite images tell us about north Gaza, a piece by our OSINT team - news.sky.com/story/what-s...

An IDF spokesperson said: “The IDF will act against Hamas wherever it operates, with full commitment to international law, while distinguishing between terrorists and civilians, and taking all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians”

In response to our findings, the UN told us it is already investigating 52 similar incidents in areas where the Israeli army told civilians it was safe to evacuate.

The blast came five days after the IDF released an interactive map of Gaza, which it said would help civilians avoid combat zones.

Sky found that Israel’s use of this map has been chaotic, with evacuation orders frequently contradicting themselves.

The IDF’s strikes in Deir al Balah, which it says were against military targets, came despite the IDF telling civilians that they could evacuate to the city the day before.

A senior UN official told Sky News he could think of “no rationale” for this.

Without access to the weapon remnants Sky News cannot say for sure who was responsible for the blast. 

Israel has said it was striking military targets in Deir al Balah that day. Sky has not seen any reports of other groups firing rockets in the area at that time.

Two independent experts told Sky that the extent of the damage, size of the rubble, lack of burn damage and apparent precision of the strike were consistent with an airstrike, not an misfired rocket.

Responding to our findings, the IDF did not deny it was responsible for the blast.

Israel said Gazans could flee to this neighbourhood - then it was hit A Sky News visual investigation shows a building in Deir al Balah was hit one day after civilians were told they could flee to the city. Israel says it struck military targets in the area that day. Th...

Israel said Gazans could flee to this neighbourhood - then it was hit.

We found that a home in Deir al Balah was hit on 5 December, one day after Israel told civilians they could flee to the city.

news.sky.com/story/israel...

Secrets of the tunnels: What lies beneath al Shifa Hospital? It was once the largest and most advanced medical facility in Gaza Now it's a battleground.

It’s been three weeks since Israel captured #Shifa_Hospital - which they say was home to Hamas HQ.

We’ve gone over all the available evidence to build the fullest picture possible.

Here’s everything we know so far: news.sky.com/story/secret...

Israel-Hamas war: What social media videos and satellite images tell us about the number of dead in ... Sustained airstrikes, communications blackouts and a lack of access for foreign press has made it difficult to verify the number of people killed during the war in Gaza.

7/ Even if the war stopped tomorrow, it would take months to investigate and verify every strike. There could still be hundreds buried under the rubble.

That means we may not have a firm number for months, even years.

But the scale of death is clear.
news.sky.com/story/israel...

We've located a video to that expanded portion of the cemetery. It shows the burial of 33 people, including 15 family members, in mass graves.

Or take this cemetery in Deir al-Balah. Satellite imagery shows that the cemetery has been expanded.

A satellite photo from the same day shows the cemetery being expanded with a bulldozer.

6/ We can also see evidence for the scale of the deaths by looking at cemeteries, via satellite and social media.

A video uploaded to Snapchat on 19 Oct shows dozens of new, makeshift graves at a cemetery we located to eastern Gaza City.

5/ Another plausibility check is to look at the only other source of data on deaths - the UN.

The UN has recorded 72 deaths among its staff, around 0.58% of all staff.

That's somewhat higher than the fatality rate the Ministry is reporting for all Gaza residents.

4/ Experts say that the Ministry numbers are plausible, based on the population density of the Gaza Strip and the scale of damage visible from space.

The yellow areas here are damage we detected via satellite: news.sky.com/story/gaza-w...

3/ The Ministry has published a database of 7,000 victims.

Airwars used open-source material to verify the deaths of 23 family members in a single strike.

Director of Airwars Emily Tripp: "We were able to find pretty much every one of those names in the Ministry database."

2/ The numbers from Gaza's Ministry of Health have historically been reliable, lining up with estimates later produced by the UN.

1/ Israeli death tolls (which aren't yet finalised) haven't attracted the same scepticism.

That's in large part because journalists have been able to see the kibbutzim for themselves, while Israel has not allowed journalists to enter Gaza.