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Gathering aerial footage of Gaza is a dangerous task, and Bellingcat and our partners at @forbidden-stories.bsky.social /ARIJ/Paper Trail Media/Die Zeit/Der Standard/ Le Monde/RFI identified several cases where drone journalists were killed or injured shortly after capturing aerial images.

In order to continue the reporting on the extent of damage caused by the war in Gaza, we are sharing satellite imagery and using a 3D modelling technique called photogrammetry to show the areas two journalists had been filming before they were struck and, thus, unable to finish reporting on.

On our website you can scroll through the models yourself. As far as we know, no other photogrammetry models are available to document the current destruction in Gaza.

27/3/25, 7:34 am39 reposts113 likes

On February 15, 2024 the United Nations shared a short video showing dozens of damaged buildings in Gaza City’s Al-Shati Refugee Camp. It was filmed by journalist Abdallah Al-Hajj. Nine days after the video was posted, he came back to film in the same area when he was injured in an IDF strike.

Al-Hajj lost both his legs in the strike. Speaking to Forbidden Stories, Al-Hajj said he felt a journalistic responsibility to continue filming in Gaza during the war but took several precautions including only filming when clashes were over and when there was no immediate conflict in the vicinity.

Based on SkySat imagery from Planet Labs, IDF vehicles were visible earlier in the month on February 8 about 2.5km from Al-Shati Refugee Camp near Gaza City’s Islamic University campus. The vehicles were gone a week later in February 14 imagery.