Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We’ll be closing up this live page soon, so be sure to scroll back now to read what we’ve been working on today.

The team has been keeping an eye on the Global Sumud Flotilla, a group of over 40 civilian boats seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg is among the hundreds of activists on board the vessels, which are now fewer than 90 nautical miles from the coast of the Palestinian territory.

We assessed what the flotilla is and tracked its progress in the eastern Mediterranean, spoke to a former intelligence chief for his assessment of how Israel will likely intercept them, and showed how viral footage claiming to be the flotilla is actually Turkish football celebration.

The team have also verfied a variety of videos, including:

• Police vans driving into demonstrators in eastern Morocco
• A large-scale Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro
• Another huge fire at a major oil refinery in Russia

Plus, after a new pledge from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, we’ve answered a reader’s question about how many primary schools in England don’t have a library.

What do you want us to investigate next? Tell us about the issues you care about here.

BBC Verify Live will be back tomorrow morning, thanks for reading.

Tamara Kovacevic
BBC Verify senior journalist

We’ve been checking UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s claim that Brexit is partly to blame for the increase in small boat arrivals.

Keir Starmer told GB News this morning that the UK had a "returns agreement" with every country in the European Union before Brexit.

"He [Farage] told the country it will make no difference if we left,” Starmer said.

"Well, he was wrong about that - these are Farage boats, in many senses, that are coming across the Channel.”

Starmer was referring to the Dublin III regulation - which the UK formally exited on 1 January 2021 - under which some asylum seekers were returned to the EU while others were sent the other way.

In the years before the Brexit vote, the UK returned more people than it received under the scheme - but in relatively small numbers. After the 2016 referendum, arrivals started to outpace removals.

Migration experts say other Brexit factors, like the ending of fingerprint database access, have also made a difference.

But when it comes people deciding to make the risky crossing, there are a number of other factors including family and community connections, the English language and perceptions of the UK as a more tolerant country.

You can read more here.

Phil Leake
BBC Verify data journalist

The distinctive hum-and-whir sound of dial-up internet will no longer be heard in US homes after provider AOL turned off the service for good.

It worked by dialling a phone number for the internet provider and negotiating a connection, producing a series of unique noises in the process.

As it fades into memory, I’ve been looking at the data to measure the scale of its decline.

Dial-up was once the most common way to get online, with AOL counting more than 30 million subscribers at the end of 2001, but its popularity began to fall as access to broadband internet became widespread.

Latest estimates from the American Community Survey suggest 225,000 people relied on a dial-up subscription for web access last year, down from 2.7 million in 2013.

In contrast, 314 million people used broadband.

AOL announced the end of dial-up internet in August, saying its decision was made as part of a routine evaluation of its products and services.

Peter Mwai
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Fana Broadcasting Corporate/Facebook

We are looking into reports that scaffolding has collapsed at a church under construction in Ethiopia, killing at least at least 25 people and injuring more than 200.

Images posted in local media show people lifting sections of wooden scaffolding inside what looks like a huge church, as they attempt to rescue survivors.

Other pictures we have seen show a crowd gathered outside, where the extremely rickety appearing scaffolding seems to be still intact.

The photos taken outside match St Mary’s Church in Arerti, about 70km (45 miles) east of the capital Addis Ababa. This tallies with where local media reports say the incident occurred.

Satellite imagery on Google Earth show the church has been under construction since 2012.

We have verified the images showing the collapsed scaffolding inside the church by comparing them to a video of the interior taken after most of the rescue operations had been completed.

Piles of shoes on the floor, most likely belonging to the victims, and debris from the scaffolding can be seen in the aftermath video.

Image source, Dorze Times/Facebook

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

After Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to make sure every primary school in England has a library, Steve in Lincoln got in touch with BBC Verify suggesting we look into how many do not have either a digital or physical library.

The government accompanied its announcement, external with figures from the National Literacy Trust (NLT) that one in seven state primary schools in England do not have a library space.

The independent charity also found a lack of library was much more of a problem in the North of England than other regions.

I got in touch with the NLT to check what they count as a library and they said it was: “A space that provides access to a curated collection of books and reading materials from which children and young people of all ages can browse, choose and borrow.”

The announcement was about library spaces, so just having access to a digital library would not be enough to count in the figures.

Elizabeth Dawson
BBC Verify researcher

Image source, Reuters

With the cap on domestic energy prices in Great Britain increasing today by 2% there’s been speculation that wind farms are partly to blame for the rise.

According to energy regulator Ofgem, external each month households will be paying:

• £1.23 to cover “electricity balancing costs”

• £1.42 to go towards the Warm Home Discount (WHD) scheme

• And 72p covering “adjustments to gas network costs”

So what does this mean, and what does it have to do with wind power?

Wind power is, in fact, the main driver of these “electricity balancing costs”, external according to the National Energy System Operator’s (Neso) Annual Balancing Cost Report for 2025.

These costs occur when Neso pays wind farms to stop producing power as the grid cannot always carry it where it needs to go. ‌

However, a larger portion of the £2.93 a month rise is down to the WHD scheme, external, a one-off £150 payment to help eligible households cover energy costs in winter.

So, while wind curtailment plays a role in the rise, the biggest factor is the extension of the WHD scheme.

Sebastian Vandermeersch
BBC Verify

Image source, X

We have verified two videos posted online last night showing police vans driving into demonstrators in Oujda, a city in eastern Morocco.

Some local reports say at least one person was killed and several others injured, although state-aligned media has denied anyone died.

The incidents come on the fourth consecutive day of youth-led protests across the country demanding better health care and education.

In one video, a police van drives at high speed into a crowd which had gathered on a roundabout by a university. The van hits a protester who is attempting to run away before driving off.

In the second, a police van mounts the pavement and drives into a group of protestors, crushing one against a wall as others flee.

We verified the location of the footage by matching distinctive landmarks, including roundabouts and cafe signs, to Google Maps imagery. Reverse image searches confirmed the videos were newly posted last night.

The government coalition issued a statement on Tuesday expressing willingness to engage in dialogue with the youth "within institutions and public spaces to find realistic solutions".

It also praised what it called "the balanced reaction of security authorities in line with relevant legal procedures".

Kayleen Devlin
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, X

A widely shared video purporting to show the Global Sumud Flotilla heading towards Gaza is actually a celebratory boat convoy for Turkish football club Galatasaray from months ago.

In the footage from May 2025, several vessels travel in formation and a passenger can be seen celebrating and wearing the club’s red and yellow shirt.

Matching uploads carry Turkish captions reading “Galatasaray’s Magnificent Boat Convoy” and refer to a departure for Yenikapı, a coastal district of Istanbul. The boats were sailing in celebration of the club clinching their 25th Süper Lig title.

We conducted reverse image searches on multiple screenshots from the video, which brought up hundreds of results. Many of these - including one posting on Tik Tok that has hundreds of thousands of reactions - wrongly claim that the footage shows the Global Sumud Flotilla travelling to Gaza.

Nicholas Barrett
BBC Verify researcher

Earlier today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC News that “there are about a million young people who are on benefits”.

But Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, has suggested he is confusing young people who are not in education, employment or training , external(Neets) with young people claiming benefits.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, external show that 948,000 16 to 24-year-olds were Neets in the first three months of 2025, an increase of 24,000 on previous figures.

But, according to the Resolution Foundation, only 572,000 (60%) are claiming Universal Credit.

We have contacted Downing Street to ask for a response.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

The Global Sumud Flotilla says it has entered what it is calling the “high-risk zone” 145 nautical miles from Gaza. It says that’s where the Israel Defense Forces’ navy has previously intercepted other flotillas trying to reach Gaza.

But a former Israeli naval intelligence chief has told BBC Verify that Israel’s military may move to intercept the vessels closer to the coast due to the presence of ships from other navies.

“If I was the decision maker, I would engage them inside Israeli territorial waters in order to avoid escalation,” Eyal Pinko told me.

“The Israeli navy has the full intention and the full will not to escalate with friendly navies and those who are on the ships,” he said.

BBC Verify has been tracking reports that the flotilla was being followed by the Italian navy frigate Alpino and the Spanish patrol vessel Furor - both of which have now said that they will sail further towards Israel.

Military vessels tend to mask their Automatic Identification Signal (AIS), that we usually use to track ships, for security and operational reasons. However, flight-tracking data shows an ATR 42-600 reconnaissance plane from the Turkish navy is operating south of Cyprus, close to the flotilla’s position.

Israeli news outlet YNet is reporting that an Israeli navy vessel has departed the port of Ashdod, north of the Gaza Strip, and will reach the flotilla’s position in the coming hours.

YNet also reported that local police forces are mobilising around 600 officers at Ashdod port.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

BBC Verify is dedicated to examining the facts and claims behind a story to try to determine whether or not it is true - whether that’s a political statement, a video shared on social media, or images from a war zone.

And we’re also keen to hear from you - is there something you think we should investigate? We're particularly interested in claims you have heard or seen that maybe don’t seem right.

Or perhaps you’ve come across something online and want to know if it was created using AI or even a deepfake.

You can send your suggestions to the team here.

Sebastian Vandermeersch
BBC Verify

We have verified multiple videos showing a large-scale Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday which killed at least one person and wounded 15, according to the region’s head.

One clip captures two Shahed-type kamikaze drones - called Gerans by the Russian armed forces - coming down in the city and exploding. These unmanned aerial vehicles are identifiable by their triangular wing shape and distinctive engine noise - both of which can be seen and heard in the footage.

We also verified videos showing the aftermath in the targeted location, which appears to have been a business centre. The building’s roof can be seen burning, as well as heavy structural damage and debris, and a car is engulfed in flames on the street outside.

We confirmed these locations by matching distinctive buildings such as the golden church dome seen in the screengrab above with Google Street View imagery. We also carried out a reverse-image search and checked the local weather to verify that the videos are recent.

Sebastian Vandermeersch
BBC Verify

Image source, Telegram

We have verified footage from this morning showing another fire at a major oil refinery in Russia.

Ukrainian social media users have reported it was caused by a drone strike on the facility in Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, but the region’s governor has described the blaze as being of an “industrial nature” and denied any link to drones. BBC Verify cannot say from the footage what caused the fire.

The Novo-Yaroslavsky Oil Refinery is Russia’s fifth largest - making it a strategically significant site for the energy industry. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted oil facilities in recent months.

Since August, at least 10 oil refineries in Russia are estimated to have fully or partially suspended operations following drone attacks, with some having resumed operations since.

The refinery is around 150 miles (240km) to the north-west of Moscow and 430 miles from the Ukrainian border.

We confirmed the location by matching distinctive chimneys at the refinery to Google Street View imagery from a road running adjacent to the site, and carried out reverse-image searches to check it was new footage.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We’re tracking the Global Sumud Flotilla as it approaches Gaza. It consists of more than 40 civilian boats and is carrying some 500 people. Among them are European parliamentarians, lawyers and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

The activists say they want to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver aid to the territory. Israel has accused the flotilla of being a “Hamas operation” and said it should dock at one of its ports so the aid can be taken to Gaza.

As of 10:00 BST (12:00 in Israel and Gaza), the flotilla is 117 nautical miles (135 miles; 218km) from Gaza.

"We have now entered the high-risk zone, the area where previous flotillas have been attacked and/or intercepted," the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a post on Telegram.

Overnight, a spokesperson for the flotilla said several of its boats were surrounded by Israeli naval forces.

We have not been able to authenticate the footage provided and the Israeli military has not responded to requests for comment from BBC Verify.

We have previously analysed footage of what the activists said were drone attacks against the flotilla off the coast of Tunisia.

Previous flotillas attempting to reach Gaza, however, have been intercepted by Israeli authorities more than 100 nautical miles off its coast.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told the flotilla to stop, saying the latest attempt by activists to deliver aid risks derailing a US plan to end the war.

The US government is no longer functioning as normal after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal to avoid a shutdown last night.

It’s been almost seven years since the last federal shutdown, which means many government services are out of action and non-essential workers have been put on temporary leave without pay.

BBC Verify’s correspondent in Washington DC Nick Beake has been looking at what impact it could have.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

Hello from the BBC Verify Live team.

Following our morning editorial meetings I can see we’ve got a variety of stories to bring you updates on throughout the day.

We’re using ship-tracking tools to monitor the progress of the Global Sumud Flotilla which says it wants to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The flotilla is now nearing its intended destination but the Israeli government has told the activists to dock at one of its ports as it continues a naval blockade of the territory.

In what is becoming a regular occurrence, we’re seeing videos showing an oil refinery on fire at Yaroslavl in Russia. The region’s governor has denied the blaze was caused by a Ukrainian drone strike saying it was of a “technological nature”. Ukraine has consistently targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks.

Earlier, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Reform UK leader and Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage was wrong to say leaving the EU wouldn’t affect migration policy. Having left, Starmer argued, the UK is no longer able to return people to the first member state they arrived in. We’re looking at how many were returned under that agreement - called the Dublin Convention - when the UK was a member.

We’ll bring you more on those stories shortly - plus BBC Verify's correspondent in Washington DC Nick Beake explains what happens when the US government shuts down.