Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Thanks for joining us on BBC Verify Live. Today’s live page will be closing soon, but here’s a run down of some stories the team reported on.

Using satellite imagery we analysed the path of the Israeli military’s new temporary evacuation route out of Gaza City, as a renewed ground operation in the area intensifies.

The team has also looked at imagery of the latest Israeli strikes in northern Gaza, including an attack on a children’s hospital and another on a family seemingly fleeing the fighting.

Elsewhere, we showed how we determined that a social media video of Uganda’s president discussing the country’s 2026 election was an AI fake.

In the UK, on the first full day of Donald Trump’s state visit, we used geolocation techniques to identify the hotel apparently used to project images of the US president and Jeffrey Epstein onto a Windsor Castle tower last night.

For more on Trump’s trip, we’ve fact-checked London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s claim about record numbers of Americans moving to the capital - which you can watch later across the BBC’s social media platforms.

Shayan Sardarizadeh, Kayleen Devlin and Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify

The US Justice Department appears to have deleted a study into political violence in America which concluded that far-right extremism outpaced “all other types of violent extremism”.

It comes in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and statements by President Donald Trump and other members of his administration that the majority of political violence in the US comes from left-wing groups and individuals.

The study was accessible on the Justice Department’s website until last week but is no longer there.

However, previous versions of the page can be accessed via the Internet Archive, a digital library website. The removal was spotted by Daniel Malmer, a PHD student at UNC Chapel Hill university - and reported on by 404 Media.

The study, published in 2024 by the National Institute of Justice, the Justice Department’s research agency, found that since 1990 there have been 227 attacks by far-right extremists in the US taking more than 520 lives. During the same period, far-left extremists committed 42 attacks which took 78 lives.

BBC Verify has reviewed five independent studies, all of which suggest there have been more cases of political violence in the US committed by people assigned a right-wing ideology by researchers than a left-wing one.

However, as there is no consistent or universal definition of “right” or “left” ideology, and because it is hard to judge whether a perpetrator’s stated motivation is the same as their actual motivation for carrying out attacks, it is very difficult to measure trends in political violence over time.

BBC Verify asked the Justice Department about the reason for the removal of the study, but has yet to receive a response.

Sebastian Vandermeersch
BBC Verify

We have verified a video showing the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a pick-up truck in western Gaza City, less than half a mile from a designated evacuation route.

Israel has repeatedly ordered civilians to move south and leave Gaza City by using the Al-Rashid Road, which runs along the Mediterranean coast.

In the graphic video, a vehicle - piled high with an assortment of household belongings - is seen burning with its cabin destroyed.

It also shows injured and bloodied civilians nearby, including women and young children, as well as motionless bodies lying on the ground.

Rooftops visible in the footage match available satellite imagery, placing the attack around 500m (1,600 ft) from Al-Rashid.

Local reports say five members of one family were killed.

The presence of women, children and household items indicate they were attempting to flee Gaza City when they were struck.

Image source, X

Sherie Ryder
BBC Verify journalist

We’ve been looking at reports that a children’s hospital in Gaza was hit by three strikes last night with several pictures of damage to a rooftop shared on social media.

We were able to cross-reference some damaged terracotta roofing in these images with satellite imagery of the Rantisi Hospital which is near Sheikh Radwan in northern Gaza.

We got further confirmation of the location by being able to locate other buildings that were visible in the background of the pictures.

We checked that the images that had been posted online were current by carrying out a reverse image search on each one which showed there were none older than today.

The Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed has also said in a post on Telegram, external that there was a strike on the hospital.

Emma Pengelly
BBC Verify journalist

Videos being shared on social media show people leaving Gaza City in the face of Israeli evacuation orders as its forces continue a ground offensive in the area.

In two verified videos posted to Instagram this morning we have seen a long stationary queue of cars, lorries and vans loaded with belongings on Gaza’s coastal al-Rashid street.

It’s not clear when exactly the video was filmed and similar scenes in al-Rashid street have emerged in recent days, but the position of the sun means it was filmed during the evening.

We’re continuing to monitor social media channels for the latest developments in Gaza City. We’re not seeing a lot of material currently which may be due to a reported telecoms outage.

NetBlocks, an organisation that monitors internet access, said there is “significant disruption” to connectivity in the Gaza Strip with the impact apparently greatest in the north. The group says , externalone of the Strip’s main fibre optic routes appears to have been targeted.

Simran Sohal
BBC Verify researcher

Last night ahead of US President Donald Trump’s state visit, images and videos of him with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle by the political campaign group Led by Donkeys.

The president was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump has never been officially accused of wrongdoing in connection with the deceased paedophile financier.

Four people have been arrested on suspicion of "malicious communications following a public stunt in Windsor", Thames Valley Police said.

The Malicious Communications Act 1988, external makes it an offence to send or deliver a message that is:

• Indecent or grossly offensive
• Or of an indecent or grossly offensive nature

And that message causes distress or anxiety to the recipient or to any other person they intend to send it to.

The definition of electronic communication, external includes transmitting messages but does not mention projections as an example.

If convicted, the penalty is up to two years imprisonment or a fine, or both.

Freedom of information requests by the Times found that police in England and Wales have been making more than 10,000 arrests a year under the legislation since 2021, according to a report by the House of Lords library, external.

Kayleen Devlin
BBC Verify senior journalist

We’ve been looking into how it may have been possible for images of US President Donald Trump alongside the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to be projected on to Windsor Castle last night.

A number of security measures have been implemented for Trump’s state visit to the UK - including today's meeting with King Charles at Windsor.

These include a heightened security presence, airspace restrictions over and around the castle, as well as local road, path and river closures.

However, it appears the projection was broadcast on to one of the castle’s towers from the Harte and Garter Hotel which is directly opposite.

An image posted on X shows a window from the top floor of the hotel illuminated by what appears to be a bright projector light shining from inside a room.

Image source, Finlay Duncan/Deutsche Welle

We ran a search on the image to confirm it was new and contacted Deutsche Welle journalist Finlay Duncan, who posted the picture. He told us that it was taken last night at 21:42 BST - around the same time the video projection was playing on the castle wall.

The hotel in question is not currently accepting reservations. We got in touch with them to ask for comment, but haven’t yet heard back.

Thames Valley Police has confirmed four men have been arrested on suspicion of "malicious communications following a public stunt in Windsor".

Tom Edgington
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Reuters

While the official cost of US President Donald Trump’s unpreceded second state visit won’t be released for some time, the bill for his first in 2019 is available on the Foreign Office’s website, external.

It reveals a total cost of just over £427,000, including:

• £99,668 on entertainment
• £32,816 on transport
• £31,732 on accommodation

Crucially, however, the figures exclude key costs like policing and security - and that’s where the bill really climbs.

Last time the Metropolitan Police spent £3.4m, including £800,000 on overtime alone, according to a Freedom of Information release, external.

A former Met commander told BBC Verify that state visits often require road closures and officers carrying out full checks on street furniture - including inspecting street lamps and drains. This is added to the cost of policing protests and other operational duties.

He explained that forces are normally expected to pay out of their existing budget, but can apply for a Home Office grant if additional costs are incurred.

However, unlike French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in July, Trump won’t be taking part in a parade - and is not expected to appear in public at all.

Despite the cost, some say state visits help improve diplomatic and trade relations - making them a price worth paying.

Peter Mwai
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, X

We have verified a video showing fighters from the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) apparently attacking the headquarters of the Sudanese army in the besieged city of el-Fasher.

The footage, posted online yesterday, shows a group of about six men firing down two roads - one heading north and another to the west - at an intersection in the capital of North Darfur.

The fighters seen in the footage are shooting towards areas believed to be controlled by the army and armed groups fighting alongside them.

We can tell they belong to the RSF from the uniforms they are wearing, while landmarks like a shipping container, buildings and the road layout match a location in the heart of el-Fasher.

The video has been filmed about 600 metres (2,000 ft) from the 6th Infantry Division Command, the headquarters of the military there. The men firing to the north appear to be firing at this key base - and the video indicates the RSF may have made progress in their grinding advance in el-Fasher.

RSF fighters have laid siege to the city for the past 15 months and it remains the last major Sudanese government stronghold in Darfur. The army has issued a statement, external saying its forces launched a counter-attack and defeated the RSF, but it did not specify where this occurred.

Tamara Kovacevic
BBC Verify senior journalist

This morning we’ve been listening to the UK Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey’s round of broadcast interviews on BBC local radio stations, ahead of his party’s annual conference later this week.

On BBC Radio Solent he said: “He [Nigel Farage] caused the small boats problem… because we came out of the EU, because of Brexit we weren’t able to return people.”

Davey appeared to be referencing an EU scheme, known as the Dublin III Regulation, which the UK was part of until the end of the Brexit transition in 2020 when it formally left the bloc.

The scheme determined which EU country was responsible for processing asylum claims, taking into account factors such as family reunion and the country where applicants first tried to enter without permission.

However, the number of migrants returned to the EU under this scheme was never very high.

According to Home Office figures, external in 2015 – the year before the Brexit vote – 131 people were transferred to the UK from the rest of the EU and 510 went the other way.

In the last two years of the scheme, between 2018 and 2020, the UK returned 577 and received 2,811 people under the scheme.

Peter Mwai
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, BBC/TikTok

Uganda’s 81-year-old President, Yoweri Museveni, has been in power for almost 40 years and will be standing for re-election in January, but he has not said whether this would be his last term of office should he win.

An AI-generated video appearing to show Museveni urging people to vote for him next year with a promise that it will be his last election has been viewed close to a million times on TikTok where we believe it was first posted. But it has all been faked.

In the video, Museveni purportedly says he has some unfinished projects: “I will never vie again after 2026. So, I urge all Ugandans to come out in large numbers and vote for me for the very last time.”

Online users including local media outlets in Kenya have fallen for the clip which uses visuals from a news briefing the 81-year-old gave during a trip to Egypt last month.

The lectern Museveni is speaking at has Arabic writing and a reverse image search led me me to a video on YouTube of an address he gave, external , externalin Cairo, external which matches the setting of the fake including the doors and Ugandan flag.

Listening closely to the audio in the two videos and Museveni’s voice in the AI-generated one is hoarse and his facial expressions and gestures seem clumsy.

On the TikTok account we believe the clip was first posted, we’ve also found another video featuring Museveni this time making fun of opposition politician Bobi Wine. In the other clip, he makes exactly the same hand movements towards the microphone which indicates they were both generated using the same AI tool.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared a temporary alternative route out of Gaza City as their renewed ground operation intensifies.

Earlier today, spokesman Avichay Adraee announced a 48-hour period where residents will be able to leave the city "via Salah al-Din Street" - Gaza’s main road which runs north to south.

Previously, residents have been ordered to head south out of Gaza’s largest city via al-Rashid Street on the Mediterranean coast.

However, the accompanying map shared by Adraee shows a significant diversion from Salah al-Din as the route traverses the Netzarim Corridor, a militarised zone established by the IDF in 2024 which split the territory in two.

The diversion uses a track that was dug during the establishment of the corridor and adds around 1.6km (1 mile) to the journey south.

Israeli troops withdrew from the corridor in January as part of a now-defunct ceasefire deal, but satellite imagery taken on Monday shows military vehicles have returned to the area.

The new route will be open from midday local time today (10:00 BST), according to the IDF.

Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Verify senior journalist

During a news conference yesterday, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said Tyler Robinson – who is accused of murdering Charlie Kirk - was in a “romantic relationship” with his roommate, a “biological male… undergoing a gender transition”.

Over the weekend, the Daily Mail said it had found, external a number of social media accounts allegedly linked to the roommate. It mentioned a specific username. We used this to search online and found accounts in this name on Steam, a platform popular with online gamers, Discord, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and TikTok.

While most of the posts from those accounts were related to gaming and online culture, the user did engage in some politics-related discussion on Reddit, including comments on forums dedicated to transgender people, religion and capitalism. In one comment, the user spoke about their personal experience of transitioning, describing how they had been told they were “possessed by a demon” and “kicked out of the house”.

Using the friends lists associated with those accounts, some online sleuths claim to have found Tyler Robinson’s profiles on platforms like Steam, Reddit and Venmo, a mobile payment app.

Comments posted by the accounts allegedly owned by Robinson were mostly linked to gaming.

BBC Verify has reviewed all of the accounts, but is unable to confirm that they belong to Robinson and his roommate.

The BBC has contacted Reddit, Discord and Steam for comment on the ownership of the profiles.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

Good morning.

As thousands of people flee Gaza City, a day after Israel began its ground offensive there, we’re investigating a new route the Israeli military says it has opened for those fleeing towards the coast to what it calls “humanitarian zones”.

We’re also monitoring footage that’s being posted online from Gaza City to get an idea about how the offensive in the Strip’s largest urban area is progressing.

BBC Verify has been investigating a video that has been circulating among Ugandan social media users that purports to show the country’s president saying next year’s elections will be his last. Yoweri Museveni has been in power for 40 years - but the video in which he made his “pledge” has been created using artificial intelligence.

Here in the UK it’s the first full day of US President Donald Trump’s state visit. But how much is this visit going to cost the UK government? We’ve been looking at the numbers from the last time Trump was here in 2019.

We’ll bring you updates on our work verifying video, checking facts and interpreting data across the day - and you can get in touch with us by following this link.