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I.109  A Cartography of Genocide: Israel's Conduct in Gaza since October 2023

A Cartography of Genocide: Israel's Conduct in Gaza since October 2023

Date of Incident

7 Oct 2023 - Ongoing

Location

Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

Legal Process, Web Platform

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
Since October 2023, we have closely monitored Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the resulting extensive civilian harm. Comprehensive cartographic analysis, published as a web platform and in-depth report, reveals patterns of violence which indicate a systematic and organised campaign to destroy life, conditions necessary for life, and life-sustaining infrastructure.

I.108  'When it Stopped Being a War': The Situated Testimony of Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

'When it Stopped Being a War': The Situated Testimony of Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Date of Incident

17 Oct 2023

Location

Al-Ahli Hospital, Gaza City

Forums

Exhibition, Media

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
On 17 October 2023, a massive explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City killed hundreds of civilians sheltering in a courtyard. Together with Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a reconstructive surgeon working in the hospital when the blast occurred, we reconstructed the strike and its consequences.

I.101  ‘No traces of life’: Israel’s Ecocide in Gaza 2023-2024

‘No traces of life’: Israel’s Ecocide in Gaza 2023-2024

Date of Incident

7 Oct 2023 - Ongoing

Location

Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

Legal Process, Media

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
Since October 2023, the Israeli military has systematically targeted agricultural land and infrastructure in Gaza. Marking the occasion of Land Day in Palestine, our investigation reveals that the widespread destruction of orchards and greenhouses in Gaza is a deliberate act of ecocide that supports Israel’s genocidal campaign.

I.100  Humanitarian Violence in Gaza

Date of Incident

7 Oct 2023 - Ongoing

Location

Gaza, Palestine

Forums

Legal Process, Human Rights Report, Web Platform

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
Since 7 October 2023, the Israeli military has abused and weaponised humanitarian measures such as ‘evacuation orders’, ‘safe routes’, and ‘safe zones’ to facilitate the systematic mass displacement of the Palestinian civilian population toward the southern border of Gaza.

I.99  An Assessment of Visual Material Presented by the Israeli Legal Team at the ICJ

Date of Incident

12 Jan 2024

Location

None

Forums

Legal Process

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
Forensic Architecture’s analysis of the visual material presented by the Israeli legal team at the ICJ hearing on 12 January 2024 found multiple instances of misrepresentation, mislabelling, and misleading descriptions.

I.97  Destruction of Medical Infrastructure in Gaza

Destruction of Medical Infrastructure in Gaza

Date of Incident

7 Oct 2023 - Ongoing

Location

Gaza, Palestine

Forums

Legal Process, United Nations, Human Rights Report, Media, Web Platform

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
Since 7 October 2023, we have aggregated news reports of Israeli military attacks on medical infrastructure in Gaza. Our analysis suggests that hospitals in Gaza have been subjected to a pattern of intimidation, direct targeting, siege, and occupation by the Israeli military over the course of the 2023 invasion.

I.82  Russian Strike on the Kyiv TV Tower

Russian Strike on the Kyiv TV Tower

Date of Incident

1 Mar 2022

Location

Kyiv, Ukraine

Forums

Exhibition, Media

In Partnership With

The Center for Spatial Technologies (CST)
The Russian strike on the Kyiv TV tower and the site of Babyn Yar on 1 March 2022 resulted in civilian casualties and urban destruction—but it also pierced through layers of historical strata, exposing a history of violence, genocide and negation that unfolded on the very same ground. This is the first installation in a new long-term collaboration with the Center for Spatial Technologies.

I.80  The Shelling of Khudair Warehouse: Chemical Warfare by Indirect Means

The Shelling of Khudair Warehouse: Chemical Warfare by Indirect Means

Date of Incident

15 May 2021

Location

Gaza, Palestine

Forums

Legal Process, Media

In Partnership With

Al-Haq
Marking the launch of Al-Haq’s Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit based in Ramallah, we examined the circumstances of the 15 May 2021 Israeli bombing of the Khudair Pharmaceuticals and Agricultural Tools Company in Beit Lahiya—the largest agricultural chemical warehouse in Gaza—as part of the environmental disaster imposed on Palestinians.

I.79  Living Archaeology in Gaza

Living Archaeology in Gaza

Date of Incident

7th Century BCE - Ongoing

Location

Gaza

Forums

Legal Process, United Nations, Human Rights Report, Media

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
Decades of bombings and humanitarian disaster inflicted by the Israeli occupation have posed a constant threat not only to Palestinian lives but also to their cultural heritage. FA has conducted the first open-source excavation of this remarkable archaeological site along Gaza’s coastline, illustrating the myriad risks it faces.

I.71  European Arms in the Bombing of Yemen

European Arms in the Bombing of Yemen

Date of Incident

26 Mar 2015 - Ongoing

Location

Yemen

Forums

Legal Process, Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Web Platform

Commissioned By

European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
Since 2015, airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen have constituted grave human rights violations. Partners across the Investigative Commons developed an interactive map to reveal the extent to which arms producers and governments in Europe continue to profit from arms exports despite evidence of their substantial contribution to the military operations of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

I.38  Lethal Warning: The killing of Luai Kahil and Amir al-Nimrah

Lethal Warning: The killing of Luai Kahil and Amir al-Nimrah

Date of Incident

14 Jul 2018

Location

Gaza City, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

Media

Commissioned By

B’Tselem
Two children died when an Israeli 'warning strike' hit a building in Gaza City. When the Israeli army shared videos of the attack, the strike that killed the teenagers had been removed. Why did the IDF manipulate their own footage? And what does the incident mean for the 'warning strike' policy?

I.34  Chemical Attacks in Douma

Chemical Attacks in Douma

Date of Incident

7 Apr 2018

Location

Douma, Syria

Forums

Media

Commissioned By

The New York Times
Allegations of chemical attacks lead inevitably to conflict and discord on social media, and competing claims from reporters and politicians around the world. Working with the New York Times, we developed innovative new techniques to help cut through the confusion with material facts.

I.21  Airstrikes on the al-Jinah Mosque

Airstrikes on the al-Jinah Mosque

Date of Incident

16 Mar 2017

Location

al-Jinah, Syria

Forums

United Nations, Media

Commissioned By

Self-Initiated
When two Hellfire missiles destroyed the Sayidina Omar Ibn al-Khattab mosque during evening prayer, thirty-eight civilians died. Piecing together available videos and aerial imagery, we challenged the Pentagon’s claim that the site was an al-Qaeda meeting house, forcing condemnation from the UN.

I.20  Airstrikes on M2 Hospital

Airstrikes on M2 Hospital

Date of Incident

1 Jun 2016 - 1 Dec 2016

Location

Aleppo, Syria

Forums

Human Rights Report, Media

Commissioned By

Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
Omar Bin Abdul Aziz Hospital was struck fourteen times by munitions fired by the Syrian army, including cluster and barrel bombs. Within a digital model, we corroborated multiple sources of CCTV footage to support claims that Syria and its allies were intentionally targeting civilian hospitals.

I.23  Chemical Attack in Khan Sheikhoun

Chemical Attack in Khan Sheikhoun

Date of Incident

4 Apr 2017

Location

Khan Sheikhoun, Syria

Forums

Human Rights Report, Media

Commissioned By

Human Rights Watch
The truth of an apparent chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun quickly became obscured behind allegations and counter-allegations. With Human Rights Watch, we investigated what the precise dimensions of the impact crater could tell us about the munition that had caused it.

I.22  Airstrikes on al-Hamidiah Hospital

Airstrikes on al-Hamidiah Hospital

Date of Incident

15 Feb 2016

Location

al-Hamidiah, Syria

Forums

Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media

Commissioned By

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
When twenty-five people were killed when a hospital operated by Médicins Sans Frontières was struck by two air strikes, both the Russian and Syrian governments denied responsibility. By locating and analysing multiple video sources, we attempted to assign responsibility for the attacks.

I.16  Airstrikes in Atimah

Airstrikes in Atimah

Date of Incident

8 Mar 2015

Location

Atimah, Syria

Forums

Exhibition, Media

Commissioned By

Airwars
When three bombs landed at the edge of a camp where more than thirty thousand internally-displaced people were sheltered, nobody claimed responsibility. Using available satellite and smartphone imagery, we determined the location of the strikes, and other information about the munitions.

I.15  The Bombing of Rafah

The Bombing of Rafah

Date of Incident

8 Jul 2014 - 26 Aug 2014

Location

Rafah, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media

Commissioned By

Amnesty International
When an Israeli soldier was captured and taken into the tunnels below Rafah, the full force of Israel’s military was unleashed. Using smartphone footage and satellite imagery, we mapped the destruction as over two thousand munitions were fired into the city in a single day.

I.13  The Gaza Platform: Israel's 2014 offensive

The Gaza Platform: Israel's 2014 offensive

Date of Incident

8 Jul 2014 - 26 Aug 2014

Location

Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

Web Platform

Commissioned By

Amnesty International
Over 2000 people died in under 2 months during the Israeli assault on Gaza. Working with local and international NGOs, we built a platform to map almost 3000 individual events, creating a public repository of testimony and data about the offensive—and a template for documenting future conflicts.

I.7  The Drone Strikes Platform

Date of Incident

1 Nov 2014 - 1 Nov 2014

Location

Federally Administered Tribal Area, Pakistan

Forums

United Nations, Media, Web Platform

Commissioned By

Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Civilian homes were the target of sixty-one percent of all reported drone strikes conducted by the CIA in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas between 2004 and 2014. We turned a database of those strikes, compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, into an interactive cartography.

I.11  Knock on the Roof: Drone strike in Beit Lahiya

Knock on the Roof: Drone strike in Beit Lahiya

Date of Incident

9 Jan 2009

Location

Beit Lahiya, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

United Nations, Exhibition, Media

Commissioned By

UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
An anti-tank missile, fired at the home of the Salha family, left just a small hole in the roof. The bomb that followed three minutes later destroyed the house, killing six people. We interviewed surviving family members and investigated the tactics of the ‘warning shot’.

I.10  Drone Strike in Miranshah

Drone Strike in Miranshah

Date of Incident

30 Mar 2012

Location

Miranshah, Pakistan

Forums

United Nations, Exhibition, Media, Web Platform

Commissioned By

UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
Video footage of the aftermath of a drone strike that killed four people was smuggled across siege lines before being broadcast on MSNBC. We analysed the footage frame-by-frame to confirm the location of the building, the consequences of the strike, and the munition used.

I.8  Drone Strikes on a Jirga in Datta Khel

Drone Strikes on a Jirga in Datta Khel

Date of Incident

16 Mar 2011 - 17 Mar 2011

Location

Dhatta Khel, Pakistan

Forums

United Nations, Media

Commissioned By

UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
A strike on a community gathering in Datta Khel, Pakistan, killed at least forty-three civilians. We cross-referenced witness statements, local press reports and satellite imagery to construct a picture of what had taken place.

I.9  Drone Strike in Mir Ali

Drone Strike in Mir Ali

Date of Incident

4 Oct 2010

Location

Mir Ali, Pakistan

Forums

United Nations, Exhibition

Commissioned By

UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
A drone strike killed five people in their home. One woman and her infant son survived. We reconstructed the home and investigated aspects of the strike and its aftermath, using digital models to unlock new memories in the witness.

I.3  The Use of White Phosphorus in Urban Environments

The Use of White Phosphorus in Urban Environments

Date of Incident

27 Dec 2008 - 18 Jan 2009

Location

Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Forums

United Nations

Commissioned By

Yesh Gvul, Michael Sfard Law Office
The 2008–2009 conflict saw the use by Israeli forces of white phosphorus, a toxic, flammable and corrosive airborne munition. We analysed the use and effects of the weapon in support of calls to make its use illegal, and presented our report to a 2012 UN convention.