Ben van der Merwe

Digital investigations journalist @SkyNews Signal: bvdm.22

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

NEW: A Sky News investigation has pieced together the most comprehensive picture yet of the 23 March killing of aid workers by Israeli troops.

Our findings contradict not only Israel's initial account of the attack, but its subsequent accounts as well.

[Younis Tirawi | يونس @ytirawi]

Ammar Aqqad adressing the [@IDF] & [@LTC_Ariella], after completely refusing to cooperate with them, after brutally kidnapping his mother and sister:

“The army claims they were released.. which area? Where did they go? There is evidence.. Well where? We only want to know”

[Yalda Hakim @SkyYaldaHakim]

"There are literally hundreds or thousands of people who have just vanished... and many of them have been last seen in the presence of Israeli troops."

@AlexCrawfordSky tells me about the newsroom-wide effort to trace the last known movements of a mother and daughter in Gaza who were last seen alive in Israeli military custody.

More 🔽

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

Watch the report here (or the full version on YouTube)

By @AlexCrawfordSky @McGarwen @CunninghamCSky and myself in close collaboration with the incredible team at @GLAN_LAW
https://t.co/KPskSMX591

[Sky News @SkyNews]

A mother and daughter from Gaza were last pictured blindfolded in the back of an Israeli military vehicle in December 2023. @AlexCrawfordSky and Sky's Data and Forensics team have traced their last known movements.

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

In May 2024, @IDF Sgt. Dolev Mor Yossef posted this photo on his Instagram - posing with two blindfolded Palestinian women.

The two women have not been seen since.

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

Aisha and Huda are just two of at least 3,000 Palestinians who have gone missing since the war began.

@HaMokedRights has evidence in 800 cases that these people were last seen in Israeli custody.

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

Two women disappear after last being seen with Israeli soldiers in Gaza. Where are they? And what happened to them? We ask is this Israeli policy? And how many more Palestinians have disappeared? With @GLAN_LAW INVESTIGATORS AND @SkyNews Data and Forensics @_BvdM @McGarwen @CunninghamCSky

[Nada Maucourant Atallah @MaucourantNada]

We spoke to reporter Zaynab Faraj, who survived a triple-tap attack that killed her colleague, Amal Khalil.

She described how an Israeli strike first hit a car ahead of them, killing two civilians, before a second strike targeted their own vehicle, severely injuring Amal. Ms Faraj said she helped her into an empty house, where they lay wounded and terrified, waiting for help.

A third Israeli strike then hit the building where they were hiding, collapsing it on top of them.

“Amal was gone,” Ms Faraj said. “And I was left alone.”

Throughout the ordeal, the journalists made repeated calls for help. But Israel prevented the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Red Cross from reaching them, informed sources told us.

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

Read this detailed account from @ZeinakhodrAljaz of the sequence of events leading to the killing of Leb journalist Amal Khalil. Her editors; Leb Pres; Red Cross, were all informed and appealed for help. The Israeli military bombed her shelter anyway then prevented her rescue for hours, attacking the ambulance crews. Targeting journalists and first responders is a heinous breach of int law - no matter their affiliation, no matter it was inside Israeli-occupied land. Leb PM is demanding accountability and calls her killing a ‘blatant war crime’

[Michael Spagat @Michael_Spagat]

1. Yesterday I presented new research on what I'm calling the "demographic fingerprints" of armed conflict — and what they reveal about Gaza.

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

Correction: Khardali bridge was not destroyed - the strike hit a nearby road

[Enzo Quenescourt @enzoquenes]

@_BvdM Error on Khardali bridge (incl. Reuters & myself): the bridge wasn’t destroyed. The strike hit the road a few dozen meters away.
Reuters images + video confirm it (Litani runs parallel).
Correct location: 33.3446356, 35.539662
Thanks for your work.

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

The IDF has now struck seven bridges over the Litani river. Documenting them in this thread.

@GeoConfirmed

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

The IDF has shared footage of the second strike on Al Dalafa bridge

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

@enzoquenes Thanks for this, will delete and add a correction

[Dominic Waghorn @DominicWaghorn]

Pro Israeli groups masquerading as honest/objective reporting campaigners do not like @AlexCrawfordSky because goes to places and tells the truth with enormous courage despite Israeli efforts to either block or intimidate journalism. We should all ignore them. Nuff said.

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

Proof for @GeoConfirmed

[Ben van der Merwe @_BvdM]

Not only is this Israeli flag flying over the ruins of Kfarkela, but it is within metres of a UN peacekeeper base

Coordinates: 33.2778, 35.5492

[AMK Mapping 🇳🇿 @AMK_Mapping_]

An Israeli flag was raised over the flattened town of Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, which fell to the IDF a few days ago.

[Dominic Waghorn @DominicWaghorn]

Depressing that this needs saying but it really does thanks to the disgraceful efforts of some to undermine that fundamental principle of warfare

[Sky News @SkyNews]

More than 40 emergency workers have been killed in Lebanon in the past three weeks by Israeli strikes, while medical infrastructure has also been put out of action.

Our special correspondent @AlexCrawfordSky has been reporting from southern Lebanon

[Euan Ward @euanward_]

Taline Shehab would have celebrated her 5th birthday last week.

She was killed by an Israeli strike along with her father, a well-known drone cameraman who worked in Lebanese television. Her mother, Natalie, remains in a coma, unaware her husband and only child are gone.

“She was our little princess,” said her uncle, Ali.