Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

This page will be closing shortly, so do scroll back to read about what the BBC Verify team has been working on today.

After Russian drones were shot down in Polish air space overnight, we’ve separated real and fake footage of the incursion, analysed what type of drones were involved and gathered military insight on why they may have entered the territory of a Nato member.

In the UK, we’ve dug into the data on how many English schools are waiting for work to remove Raac aerated concrete and analysed the impact of this week’s strikes by London Underground workers.

Plus, weapons experts have told BBC Verify that a flotilla of ships intending to take aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza appears to have been hit by grenade in a second attack off the coast of Tunisia in as many days.

BBC Verify Live will be back tomorrow morning with more.

Emma Pengelly
BBC Verify journalist

We’ve been looking at a drone video showing a huge crowd in southern Gaza desperately rushing towards and onto lorries carrying aid.

It was filmed on a road between Rafah and Khan Younis which we confirmed by matching rubble and building ruins to recent satellite imagery.

In July we verified a video of a similar scene in the same road, about 1km south of this latest video, which showed hundreds of people surrounding aid trucks and climbing on top of them to get hold of supplies.

It’s not clear when this latest video was recorded, but the earliest version we could find online was shared by a Telegram channel on Monday 8 September and claims to show an incident from Sunday.

UN-backed food security experts confirmed a famine in Gaza City on 22 August.

Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has reported that 126 people have died from starvation and malnutrition across the territory.

Israel has said it is expanding its efforts to facilitate aid deliveries and has disputed the Hamas-run health ministry's figures on malnutrition-related deaths.

You can watch the video in full below.

Verification by Benedict Garman

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

London’s Underground network is pretty much at a standstill again as a strike by Transport for London (TfL) staff continues into its fourth day, but former Conservative minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has a suggestion.

"Most of the Tube lines are now automatically operated - they have observers in the cab, not drivers,” he told the DailyT Podcast. , external

“Just fire them - you don’t need them.”

I got in touch with Rees-Mogg to ask what he was basing this on and he suggested I should ask the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.

That’s not how I usually work, so instead I contacted TfL who were clear that all trains on London Underground are operated by a fully-trained driver and they do not currently have any plans to introduce driverless trains.

Of course, you don’t only need drivers to operate the Tube. There are many other functions such as station staff, signallers and engineers, who have also been striking this week, external.

And just for the sake of completeness, I did also ask ChatGPT, which told me that while some lines are using partial automation, they all still need a driver in the cab to take control if needed, operate the doors and be in charge of overall safety.

Fridon Kiria
BBC Monitoring

While we’ve been verifying footage of Russian drones in Poland, we’ve also been seeing reports this morning that a Ukrainian drone has damaged a building near Novorossyisk, a Russian port city on the Black Sea.

One of the videos being shared shows damage to the ground floor of multi-storey building and debris strewn across a street.

Looking closely at the video we could see a sign on the building with the words Hotel Muskat. We searched online for the hotel and got the address from its own website - Shirokaya Balka street.

We couldn’t see the hotel on Google Earth’s satellite imagery or street-level mapping which dated from 2019.However some features in the footage could be matched such as the pedestrian crossing and black-and-white kerb, as well as lamp posts and the view of the sea.

Mayor of Novorossyisk Andrey Kravchenko has said a “non-residential building” was damaged by drone debris in the Shirokaya Balka area. No casualties have been reported.

Libby Rogers and Harriet Agerholm
BBC Verify

As strikes on the London Underground continue for a third day we’ve been looking at how journeys in the UK capital have been affected.

As of 10:00 this morning, the number of unique Oyster and contactless cards using the transport network was down overall by 26% compared with the same day last year, Transport for London (TfL) said.

There is only very minimal Tube service, but the other TfL services that are running have seen an increase in activity - entries and exits on the Elizabeth Line and London Overground are up by 28% and 17% respectively, according to TfL.

There’s evidence more Londoners are getting on bikes, with cycle-rental company Lime saying it recorded 50% more trips between 07:00 and 11:00 yesterday compared with the same day last week.

Lime users were renting bikes for 41% longer and going 28% further, it said.

Data for the borough of Camden shows an uptick in cycling on some major roads, with twice the number of cyclists on Tottenham Court Road in central London during yesterday’s rush hour compared with the week before.

Merlyn Thomas
BBC Verify senior reporter

We’ve been carefully analysing footage of a second claimed drone attack against a flotilla of boats loaded with aid supplies which activists intend sailing to Gaza.

Members of the Global Sumud Flotilla on board the ship ‘Alma’ posted online that a “charred electronic device” was recovered from its deck after the second attack.

We sent this picture and the footage we have independently verified to two weapons experts who both said the device appears to be a grenade.

Image source, Instagram

NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, told us that the features of the device are “common but not exclusive to some models of Israeli hand grenades.”

“Israeli forces are known to have used UAV-delivered incendiary munitions on previous occasions,” he said.

David Heathcote, head of intelligence at McKenzie Intelligence Services, said that while he couldn’t pinpoint the device to a country “it is clearly some kind of grenade … most likely delivered by drone”.

BBC Verify asked the Israel Defense Forces if it was responsible for either of the suspected attacks. They did not provide a comment.

Tunisian authorities said no drones had been detected in either incident.

Matt Murphy
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, EPA

We’ve spent the morning speaking to military experts, asking why Russia may have flown a Gerbera drone into Poland.

Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, the former head of the Irish defence forces, suggested that Russia may have been “checking the integrity” of Polish and Nato defence capabilities.

He added that the use of non-lethal capabilities - the Gerbera drone isn’t usually used to attack targets directly - may have been an attempt by Russia to ensure that nobody was injured in the incursion.

But Mellett also suggested that the Gerbera drone, which is relatively cheap to make and uses basic navigation equipment, may have flown off course.

He noted that “there is a real possibility that you had a systems failures or that jamming/disabling technology deployed on the Ukrainian side“ interfered with the drone’s flight path.

Dr Marina Miron of Kings College London also noted that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can easily be interfered with by jamming its systems and potentially sending it off course from its intended target.

“It's unlikely that they were sent into Poland intentionally, given their poor guidance,” retired US Marine Corps Col Mark Cancian of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said.

“Nineteen is a lot, but they might have been launched by the same unit, which made a similar mistake in all of its launches. I don't see what advantage Russia would gain by purposely tweaking Nato at a time when it wants passivity from Europe.”

But Justin Crump, CEO of the risk and intelligence company Sibylline, noted a trend of Gerbera drones crossing into Nato airspace.

In July, Lithuania said two drones crashed after crossing the border from Belarus, while Poland said a UAV briefly flew through its territory in August.

Daniel Wainwright
BBC Verify senior data journalist

Image source, PA Media

It’s the first full week of school for most of England’s pupils - but cast your mind back to two years ago when more than 100 had to close buildings due to the risk of concrete collapsing.

Today, the government says “more, external than half”, external of schools and colleges affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) are “either fully free of the dangerous concrete or on the path to removal”.

It says 52 are completely Raac-free and 71 are in the process of being rebuilt under the School Rebuilding Programme.

In a written answer to Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson in December, external, Education Minister Stephen Morgan said 237 schools and colleges - about 1% of the total - had confirmed Raac. So that would leave 114 still waiting for work to start.

In February 2024, when the previous government stopped publishing data, external, the total stood at 234.

At that point, 110 schools were getting a grant to remove Raac and 119 had been added to the 10-year School Rebuilding Programme, a project to rebuild or refurbish 500 schools in a decade. The rest were recorded as having a “different route” to remove the concrete.

I asked the Department for Education to give us the latest total number of schools affected, but it told me it wasn’t “providing a running commentary on Raac schools”.

Rob England
BBC Verify senior data journalist

At least three people are thought to have died overnight during an attempt to cross the English Channel in a small boat, according to French authorities.

Several others are reported missing.

It follows the death of a woman on the same route at about midday yesterday.

According to these reports and BBC Verify’s analysis of data from the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) at least 27 people are now known to have died this year while trying to reach the UK from mainland Europe.

The IOM’s most-recent published total is 23, with the last recorded death on 15 August. That figure has been updated to include the four latest deaths.

These figures include people who drowned in the Channel, as well as those who died earlier in their journey - for example, while travelling to the French coast. The data is compiled using local media reports and official sources.

Last year was the deadliest on record for people attempting to reach the UK using this route with 82 people dying. Drowning was the most common cause.

Matt Murphy
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Three analysts contacted by BBC Verify have identified images of a largely intact drone in a field close to the eastern Polish village of Czosnówka as a Gerbera - a cheap multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) widely used by Russia as a decoy to distract air defence systems during large-scale attacks on Ukraine.

Polish officials said on Wednesday morning that 19 Russian drones entered the country’s airspace overnight.Justin Crump, CEO of the risk and intelligence company Sibylline, said the Gerbera is “a cheap way to increase the capability of other drones”.

He said that Moscow typically uses it in conjunction with Shahed/Geran-2 drones when launching attacks on Ukrainian troops and cities.

Meanwhile, Justin Bronk - an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think-tank - told BBC Verify that the drones remained largely intact as they likely ran out of fuel having flown a significant distance rather than being shot down by Polish air defences or Nato jets.

Both analysts said that the scale of the incursion suggested it was almost certainly a deliberate act on Russia’s part.

Crump suggested that Moscow hoped to conduct “reconnaissance for weak points in Nato/Polish air defences” or to “generate intelligence” on how European powers would react to the breach of Polish airspace.

“The likely lack of warheads on these variants - which would otherwise appear exactly like more threatening and deadly attack drones - also allows Russia to play down the action and confuse our response,” Crump added.

Sherie Ryder and Josh Cheetham
BBC Verify

We’ve been looking at footage that organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) say was an attack on one of its vessels just off the coast of Tunisia.

Looking at a , externalCCTV clip published on t, externalhe GSF’s Instagram, external account, external we can hear sirens before a person on the boat points to the sky and a stream of fire appears to hit the deck from above.

The Alma’s crew also speak of what happened with one woman saying she heard a shout of “drone” before everyone ran inside and put life vests on.

Another person said they saw a drone about 6 metres (20ft) above them which then dropped a device. One crew member, who’d just started her night shift duty, said this happened at 23:15 local time (23:15 BST). The fire was put out in two minutes according to those on board.

Despite the footage being shot at night we’ve been able to compare features of the boat seen in the video - three white boxes and the guardrails - with a reference image on the MarineTraffic ship-tracking website.

MarineTraffic also shows the Alma’s position off Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, and we can make out the coastal terrain and lights on the shore in the CCTV which matches up with daylight imagery on Google Maps.

Image source, Global Sumud Flotilla

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

As we sift through footage from last night's Russian drone incursion into Poland it’s a good idea to be alert to any false or misleading footage that has found its way into the mix.

For instance, one clip shared on Instagram claiming to show a Russian drone over Poland - with a caption showing today’s date - has in fact been online for well over a month.

Our suspicions were first raised by the fact it was shot in daylight - as the incursion happened overnight. A reverse image search of a single keyframe using Google brought us to a YouTube short video showing exactly the same footage that was posted on 25 July.

Such practice is common during breaking news stories as certain users seek to boost their online profile.

Meanwhile, we have found authentic footage of a damaged house in the village of Wyryki in eastern Poland which was locatable on Google Street View.

We're running the images past experts to see if they can confirm that the damage is consistent with either a drone strike or falling debris.

Image source, Polsatnews

Richard Irvine-Brown and Sherie Ryder
BBC Verify

This morning we are looking into fresh claims of an attack against a flotilla of ships bound for Gaza, attempting to deliver aid.

Organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla say a fire broke out on one of its vessels - Alma - on Tuesday night following an alleged attack.

It comes after the organisers alleged another boat, Family, had been attacked the previous day.

We authenticated five videos that gave us a well-rounded picture of what happened.

In one video, filmed from on board the Family, smoke can be seen coming from the vessel’s port bow.

The person filming claims they have been struck by what appears to be a drone, and the boat is on fire.

We know the vessel is the Family, as many elements - a ladder, the black stripes on the rear of the bridge, the signalling light on the starboard side, the awning and structures at the stern - are all the right size and in the right place compared with recent photographs of the ship.

Image source, Telegram / Global Sumud Flotilla

Second, CCTV from a different boat shows the boat that was struck - which is the right size and shape for the Family.

It also helps that the lights seen in the distance on the coast can be used to corroborate the known position of the Family at the time according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.

Using those references we can say the ship is off the Tunisian coast, near the capital Tunis.

Three further CCTV videos from the Family tie all this together.

The explosion is at the port bow, the lights of Tunis are in the right place, the timecode from these match the CCTV on the other vessel.

Plus, in the two cameras looking behind the Family we can see the second boat in the right position to have filmed the moment of impact.

A "birthday letter" to Jeffrey Epstein from 2003, allegedly signed by Donald Trump, has been released by US lawmakers.

The White House has said, "the president did not write this letter, he did not sign this letter", but Democrats believe it is authentic.

There has been a particular focus on the signature - BBC Verify's Jake Horton has been examining it, with the help of handwriting experts.

Peter Mwai & Emma Pengelly
BBC Verify

Image source, Facebook

We’ve now verified photos of a damaged drone in a Polish field which have been circulating on social media channels this morning.

They were captured on the outskirts of Czosnówka - a village in Poland’s eastern Lublin province - and two of the photos have been posted on Facebook by a Polish politician.

The rural setting made finding the location of the pictures challenging.

However, we were able to confirm the spot by matching the railway line, pylons and greenery to a separate verified video as well as street-level imagery.

The video we verified shows Polish police at the same scene parked in a road alongside this field where a red temporary barrier had been set up to shield what we assume to be the drone.

We’ve checked for earlier copies of this material and confirmed it first began being shared online this morning.

We’ll now show these pictures to weapons experts to get their analysis on what kind of drone this is.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

Good morning from BBC Verify live - the page where we share the work of the BBC’s specialists in verification, fact-checking, data journalism and analysis.

Here’s what we’re working on today:

• Our team is investigating claims of attacks against a flotilla of ships that is intending to take aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the Gaza Strip. Video and images we’ve seen suggest there was a fire on one of the vessels last night. It comes after the organisers alleged another of its ships was attacked on Monday. Experts approached by BBC Verify have provided contrasting analysis about what caused Monday night’s fire
• After Poland’s prime minister said Russian drones were shot down overnight we’re gathering and verifying footage being posted online to see the extent of damage on the ground and to discover what kind of weapons were involved
• Our fact-check team is gearing up for Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons at noon UK time. We’ll catch up with them this morning to see what they think Keir Starmer will be asked about during the 30-minute session

We’re also continuing to monitor social media posts from Nepal following two days of violent anti-government protests.

You can find more of BBC Verify’s investigations, analysis and videos on our pages of the BBC News website.