Footage and maps help build up picture of assault

By Merlyn Thomas and Daniele PalumboBBC Verify

Footage from Israel and Gaza has been surfacing on social media, much of it disturbing and violent. There are images of Israeli hostages being paraded on streets by militants in Gaza, while others show high-rise buildings being reduced to rubble.

BBC Verify has been looking at all this material to build up an accurate picture of what has been unfolding. Some of the content we have seen is extremely disturbing so we have chosen not to show it.

Satellite maps also show the extent of the assault and this footage casts light on the methods used by Hamas militants as they went into Israel and took people hostage.

Fires and smoke appear on satellite images as fighting began

Using satellite data which specifically identifies fires, we were able to analyse the extent of the assault by Palestinian militants in the past 24 hours. The image shows huge areas covered in smoke as well as active fires where it appears most of the fighting was focused.

In this zoomed-in version of the image, we can see more clearly the sheer number of fires, which follow fighting, dotted across the Israeli land that borders Gaza.

Questions are being asked about how militants were able to get through the Israeli defences.

Border fences being bulldozed

In places, at least, it seems they used brute force to get through. We have been able to verify material of the border fence being bulldozed by Palestinians. This has appeared on Snapchat captioned, "Our heroes remove the wire from the border". This particular video is on the north side of the Israel-Gaza border, near the checkpoint Erez.

Videos emerge of hostages being taken

It didn't take long for footage to emerge that revealed some of the precise actions of the militants.

One particularly distressing video shows a woman bloodied and barefoot, with her hands tied behind her back. She is dragged by the hair from the boot of a Jeep and bundled back into the vehicle through a rear door by armed men, before being driven off. We verified that this was filmed on the outskirts of Gaza city in Sheijia. Although we have confirmed its authenticity, we have not shown the full video here.

Another video shows Palestinian militants dragging a lifeless body of what appears to be a soldier out of car.

Two men then stamp on the man's body, cheering and lifting their guns up into the air. A crowd of men subsequently swarm the body.

We are not showing this footage.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Forces has confirmed that "soldiers and civilians" have been abducted by militants.

Footage and accounts from shooting at festival

We've also seen footage of the aftermath of an all-night nature party near Kibbutz Re'im in Israel. Dozens of people run across the desert in panic, screaming and gunshots can be heard. The BBC's team in Jerusalem have spoken to some of those who were at the event.

One eyewitness gave the BBC terrifying account of how she hid among trees as gunmen roamed about the field she was hiding in and shooting.

There is footage on social media showing armed men patrolling the streets of the Israeli city of Ashkelon. This is likely to be Israeli police or armed forces responding.

More on Israel-Gaza attacks

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