Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

We’re going to close this live page shortly, but our late team will continue BBC Verify’s work.

Today we looked at what we know about people crossing the English Channel in small boats, as the government announced new measures to disrupt the criminal gangs involved. We also fact-checked the foreign secretary’s claim about the government’s return of 35,000 migrants.

We’ve analysed what satellite imagery tells us about the Israeli operations in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.And our team is working on an article about the amount of arms that the UK sells to Israel, which we plan to publish this evening.

In the meantime, you can find more of our work on our dedicated page on the BBC News website.

BBC Verify Live will be back on Wednesday morning.

Kumar Malhotra and Peter Mwai
BBC Verify

We have been monitoring the latest fighting in Sudan where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has been trying to gain control of the western city of el-Fasher, the Sudanese military's last stronghold in the Darfur region.

A statement and video posted by a group allied with the Sudanese army said its forces repelled the RSF, saying many fighters were killed and equipment was left behind.

We verified the video’s location as a main road through el-Fasher by matching visible landmarks - including a sports pitch and a petrol station - with satellite imagery from Google Earth.

In the video, some of the fighters are standing behind a defensive position made up of old tyres filled with soil, and a vehicle nearby can be seen firing into the distance, suggesting the battle is still going on.

The RSF has been trying to capture the city since May last year.

Image source, X

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Coca-Cola has said it plans to produce a new version of its flagship drink in the US that will be made with cane sugar.

It comes days after President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that the company had agreed to replace corn syrup with cane sugar in US coke.

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr had previously raised concerns about the possible health implications of corn syrup.

Coke made in Europe tends to be sweetened with sugars including cane sugar, so last week after Trump posted about Coca-Cola on social media, I looked into what the evidence says about which ingredient is healthier.

You can see what I found out in the video above.

Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, X

The ongoing controversy surrounding President Donald Trump administration’s handling of the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has led to a number of fake videos and images of the two men together being widely shared online.

One video, which has been viewed over a million times on multiple social media platforms, features Trump and Epstein, along with several other men, at what appears to be a party featuring several young girls in white dresses.

But the video contains multiple errors often associated with generative AI, including oddly-shaped hands, clothes and distorted faces.

While the original source of the fake video is unclear, it’s most likely been generated using a real photo of Trump and Epstein captured at a Victoria’s Secret party, external in New York in 1997.

The real photo also features Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve, but she is not in the AI video. The young girls in white dresses in the fake video are also not seen in the genuine photo.

Another fake image of Trump and Epstein - viewed over 2.7 million times on X - shows the two men sitting on a sofa flanked by two young women. There are several clear issues with this image, including Epstein having no legs, six fingers on Trump’s left hand, a young woman with unusually long arms and a man with no eyes in the background.

The image has been debunked before by BBC Verify and other fact-checkers, but continues to be widely shared online regardless.

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, PA

Foreign Secretary David Lammy was asked on LBC earlier about the government’s pledge to smashing people-smuggling gangs.

“I’ve sent 35,000 people back .. these are people who shouldn’t be here,” he replied, referring to the number of migrants returned by the government.

The latest figures show that in Labour’s first year in power (between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025), there were 35,052 returns of people, external with no legal right to be in the UK.

But only 9,115 of these were “enforced” returns - these might require an immigration officer to escort an individual on to a flight to ensure that they have left the UK.

The majority were recorded as “voluntary” - while some of these do involve the government in some way (for example, through financial assistance), previous data releases have shown that a significant number leave independently, without notifying officials.

We looked into this issue back in March and asked the Home Office how the government can keep claiming credit for returning individuals who leave of their own accord.

It said it has both a direct and an indirect role in returns and pointed to wider measures that discourage and prevent immigration offending.

Rob England
BBC Verify senior data journalist

Last week, we reported the government’s hotel bill for housing asylum seekers fell by nearly a third last year.

Figures published in the Home Office’s annual accounts show £2.1bn was spent on hotel accommodation in the year to March 2025, down from £3bn the previous year.

BBC Verify analysis suggests this was driven by a fall in the average cost per person per night, which dropped from £162 in March 2023 to about £119 by March 2025. The number of hotels in use also fell by 71 over the same period.

A senior Home Office source said some asylum seekers had been moved into cheaper housing, including houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), through contracts with providers like Serco.

But experts warn hotel use could rise again, following a surge in small boat crossings since March.

Arrests were made last week after protests over several days at an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex.

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Reuters

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is taking questions from the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee.

Her appearance comes after the launch of a new government commission exploring potential reforms to retirement planning and the future of pensions, external.

However, one potential cost-saving measure has already been ruled out: Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has insisted the pension triple lock is “non-negotiable”.

The triple lock guarantees that the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest: inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5%.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank recently , externalcriticised the , externalpolicy, external for increasing pensions “in an unpredictable way”, saying spending on the state pension could reasonably be expected to be anywhere from £5bn to £40bn higher per year in 2050.

Benedict Garman
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Planet Labs PBC

Low resolution satellite imagery shows black smoke rising from a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, where an assault by the Israeli military began early on Monday.

The satellite photo - captured by Planet Labs yesterday morning - also shows what appears to be new track marks that armoured vehicles may have made while entering the city.

A video, external published last month and geolocated by BBC Verify at the time showed armed men escorting World Health Organisation (WHO) branded lorries containing "medicines and medical supplies" to the same warehouse. It also showed a large camp for displaced people situated directly opposite the building.

Image source, Facebook

We're in touch with the WHO, who is yet to confirm the warehouse in the satellite picture belongs to it, but in a statement yesterday, external it said:

“WHO’s main warehouse located in Deir al Balah is within the evacuation zone, and was damaged yesterday after an attack caused explosions and fire inside."

We don’t have high-resolution satellite images of the area since the Israeli military began their attack, and we haven’t seen any video footage showing this warehouse on fire.

We’ll share an update once we hear back from the WHO, and if we find any more footage.

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, EPA

Financial penalties for gang leaders and companies selling small boat equipment is the latest attempt by the government to tackle the surge in illegal migration to the UK.

The government has previously pledged to “smash the gangs” and says it is working with the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute more cases involving people-smuggling gangs.

The Home Office previously told BBC Verify that data on actions taken by officials to disrupt criminal gangs is "being collected and may be published in the future".

Looking through the official data on crime outcomes in England and Wales, external, the only offence I could find relating to people smuggling was: “Other assisting entry of illegal immigrant”.

Last year, there were 483 prosecutions and 406 convictions for this crime. Criminal proceedings have fallen slightly compared to 2023 but are up from pre-pandemic years.

Rob England
BBC Verify senior data journalist

As the government announces new measures aimed at disrupting criminal gangs behind small boat crossings, what do we know about the people making the journeys?

Afghans were the most common nationality among people arriving by small boat in the year to March 2025, according to the latest Home Office figures, external.

But looking just at the first three months of this year, Eritreans made up the largest group.

The data also shows that about three-quarters of those arriving in the year to March were aged between 18 and 39, and about 84% were male.

Shruti Menon
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Flightradar24

Earlier this morning, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, following the activation of air raid sirens across several areas.

It comes a day after Israel carried out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen’s Hodeidah port.

The Houthi group says it launched a ballistic missile targeting the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. The group claims the attack “successfully achieved its goal” by prompting people to take shelter and halting airport operations.

With no footage available of the missile or its interception, I checked Flightradar24 - a flight tracking website - for signs of disruption.

It showed there was a brief suspension of takeoffs and landings. Inbound flights - such as El AI flight from New York and Enter Air flight from Katowice - were held in the air before being cleared to land.

The Israel Defense Forces posted a map on X, showing where sirens had been sounding across Israel following the launch of missiles from Yemen.

Image source, Israel Defense Forces/X

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

People who cross the English Channel in small boats are yet again a big talking point, following the government’s announcement of a sanctions policy against people smugglers.

On Verify Live we’ll be bringing you the latest analysis of small boat arrivals throughout the day and listening out to fact-check claims made by politicians.

Small boat arrivals have reached a record high for this time in the year - as we’ve been monitoring in our asylum pledges tracker.

The government publishes daily figures, external on the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats. As of 20 July, 23,534 people had arrived in the UK so far this year, up by about 50% on the same period last year.

In addition, nearly 14,000 “preventions” have been recorded by French authorities in 2025. This a broad category that includes people prevented from crossing, people arrested for facilitating the crossings, and occasions when small boat equipment has been found.

Tom Edgington
BBC Verify live editor

Hello and welcome to today’s BBC Verify Live page. This is what our fact-checkers and verification experts are prioritising this morning:

• Gang leaders and companies selling small boat equipment for Channel crossings will face sanctions as part of attempts to curb people smuggling to the UK. Our fact-checkers will be looking at the extent of the problem
• Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has suggested. We’ll be looking at what options the UK could consider
• We’re also analysing the latest footage and satellite imagery after the World Health Organization (WHO) says Israel’s ground offensive in central Gaza has disrupted its operations after its facilities came under attack
• Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it has intercepted a missile launched from Yemen

Remember, if there's anything you want BBC Verify to look into you can get in touch using this form.