Oct. 7: The horror in real time

On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, different factions, coordinated by the Palestinian Joint Operations Room, launched a terrorist attack against Israeli territory. The attack is considered one of the deadliest days in the history of Israel, with a total of 1,195 people killed, according to official figures, including 815 Israeli civilians (36 of them children), 71 foreign nationals and 379 members of Israeli security forces. In addition, 251 hostages were taken, many of whom remain captive.

For two years, GeoConfirmed—an open source intelligence project (OSINT) dedicated to geolocating and verifying visual content—has investigated and documented the events of that day.

Because of the proliferation of misinformation about what happened on Oct. 7, the team has organized and indexed some of the footage in one place so that anyone in doubt can see the horror of what happened that day with their own eyes. Footage of the massacre, captured in real time, is now available in a shocking thread on X.

Google Earth and the terrorists' GoPro, determining factors

A significant portion of the images in this investigation come from the GoPro cameras worn by the terrorists involved in the attack, most of them collected after their deaths at the hands of Israeli security personnel. Other images were recorded by first responders, security and civilian forces using cell phones, vehicle cameras and surveillance cameras. Almost all of these were collected from social media platforms such as X and Telegram.

Geolocations were determined using well-established methods, comparing the features visible in the images with satellite and panoramic images that are publicly available on tools such as Google Earth and Google Street View.

Also, the chronology of events is based on comparison of imagery, the angle of the sun and other contextual clues. While locations can be accurately determined, the chronology is an informed assessment.

Moreover, GeoConfirmed was able to identify the different Palestinian factions that perpetrated the terrorist attack that day under the leadership of a group known as the Palestinian Joint Operations Room.

Sometimes, militant groups can be recognized by the known color and style of the headbands they wear. Other times, a group's involvement can be inferred when they post images and claim authorship on their official social media channels.