On March 18, 2025, through an exhaustive analysis combining satellite imagery, geolocated videos, and independent sources, Sky News verified 112 attacks that accounted for the 465 deaths reported in Gaza that day. Only 14% of the attacks were related to combatants or people suspected of being so; 86% affected civilians or areas with no military presence. In the 11 deadliest attacks, only 6 possible militants died alongside 207 civilians, meaning 97% of the victims were non-combatants. Most of these attacks occurred before dawn, when families were asleep, significantly amplifying the number of civilian deaths.
The investigation’s results confirmed the consistency of the figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health and revealed a systematic pattern of disproportionate attacks against the Palestinian population, aligning with conclusions from international bodies such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, which have classified these events as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and indications of genocide (UN Human Rights Council, 2025; Amnesty International, 2025; Human Rights Watch, 2025).
The Sky News report, although technical and based on verifiable evidence, exposed the extreme disproportionality of force, violations of international humanitarian law, and the way part of the Western press often reduces Palestinian deaths to statistical figures, stripping them of their human dimension—the opposite of what occurs with Israeli victims (Sky News, 2025).
1. The Origin of the Investigation
On March 18, 2025, the British channel Sky News decided to test the reliability of the data published by the Gaza Ministry of Health, an agency that, amid the Israeli offensive, has become the main source of information on the number of Palestinian victims due to the total blockade of Gaza. The chosen date was not accidental: it was one of the deadliest days recorded up to that point, with 465 deaths reported (Sky News, 2025).
The outlet’s objective was to determine whether those figures—often questioned by Israel and parts of the Western press, alleging Hamas influence—could withstand careful scrutiny using independent sources. However, the analysis not only validated the data but also exposed a pattern of systematic attacks that, according to international experts, contributes to what the UN has described as genocide in Gaza (United Nations Human Rights Council, 2025).
2. Methodology
Sky News’ Data and Forensics team analyzed the complete list of 465 deaths (“entries”) published by the Gaza Ministry of Health. They then compared that data with satellite imagery, over 30 geolocated social media videos, hospital reports, consultations with experts in armed conflict law, reports from Israeli media such as +972 Magazine and Local Call, and open-source material verified by monitoring groups like Airwars (Sky News, 2025).
The result was conclusive: each recorded death could be linked to actual attacks that occurred that day. In total, the team identified 112 verified attacks—i.e., 112 bombings corroborated with visual or documentary evidence—that explained the reported deaths (Sky News, 2025).
3. Main Findings
3.1. How Many Attacks Involved Combatants
Of those 112 verified attacks, only 16 were related to the death of known militants or those suspected of being Hamas members, representing approximately 14% of the total (Sky News, 2025).
Consequently, the remaining 86% of attacks had no direct connection to identified or suspected combatants, suggesting that most struck areas with no apparent military presence (Sky News, 2025; Le Monde, 2024).
3.2. The 11 Deadliest Attacks
Sky News also highlighted a particularly revealing subset: the 11 deadliest attacks. These occurred before dawn, when families were asleep, exponentially increasing the number of civilian victims (Sky News, 2025).
In those 11 strikes, 6 militants died alongside 207 civilians or people not identified as combatants, representing 97% civilian victims (Sky News, 2025). On average, 9 family members died alongside each militant in attacks involving them. Examples include the Al-Hatta family (8 dead: parents and 6 children, including 6-year-old twins Banan and Janan, in a 3 a.m. strike); the Jarghoun family (17 dead, including 4 women and 7 children, the youngest 2 years old); and the Al Salihi family (4 dead: parents, their 1-year-old child, and an 8-year-old nephew, with no Hamas ties) (Sky News, 2025).
This level of disproportionality reveals a clear pattern: the attacks were not focused on military targets but on entire homes and communities, which experts like Brian Finucane describe as predictable in nighttime strikes, since “it is reasonable to expect that people at home at night are with family,” and Dr. Craig Jones characterizes as “excessive and disproportionate use of force” (Sky News, 2025).
4. A Systematic Pattern
The pattern revealed by Sky News’ analysis aligns with what international organizations have described as ongoing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza. The UN, through its Independent Commission of Inquiry, concluded in September 2025 that Israel has committed genocide, violating four of the five acts specified in Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention, including mass killings and conditions destroying life (United Nations Human Rights Council, 2025). Amnesty International, in its November 2025 report, states that “Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues unabated despite ceasefire,” highlighting systematic attacks on civilians as evidence of genocidal intent (Amnesty International, 2025). Human Rights Watch documents “crimes of extermination and acts of genocide” in Gaza, with patterns of family destruction that violate international law (Human Rights Watch, 2025).
The fact that the vast majority of documented attacks were not directed at combatants, and that many occurred at night maximizing civilian casualties, suggests a military policy that does not distinguish between combatants and civilians—a practice prohibited under international humanitarian law (Geneva Conventions, 1949/1977). This aligns with provisional orders from the International Court of Justice in South Africa vs. Israel, which in 2024–2025 found the risk of genocide plausible and ordered measures to prevent it, orders that Israel has ignored (International Court of Justice, 2025).
5. The Significance of Verification
Far from discrediting the Gaza Ministry of Health, Sky News’ journalistic work ultimately confirmed the consistency of its data.
Despite limitations arising from the collapse of the health system, lack of connectivity, and destruction of records, the independent analysis showed that the Palestinian figures were not arbitrary but accurately reflected the true scale of devastation (Sky News, 2025; Le Monde, 2024; The Lancet, 2025).
Le Monde explains that the UN, NGOs, and experts consider these figures reliable, as they are based on hospital data, name lists, and historical accuracy in many prior conflicts—with possible undercounting due to bodies not recovered under rubble or destroyed infrastructure (Le Monde, 2024). The Lancet estimated 75,200 violent deaths between October 2023 and January 2025 (compared with the Ministry of Health’s official count at the time), suggesting a 35% underestimation from indirect causes such as hunger, water scarcity, and hospital collapse (The Lancet, 2025).
This verification not only dismantles manipulation accusations but highlights how the pattern of attacks contributes to the genocide documented by the UN and other entities, perpetuated by international impunity and Western support (United Nations Human Rights Council, 2025).
6. Conclusion: Data and Life
That day, Sky News demonstrated that the Gaza Ministry of Health’s figures were consistent. But, paradoxically, the story was reduced to a single number: 465 dead.
Behind that number were entire families, children, and elderly buried under rubble. Yet, the report’s tone was technical, statistical—as if each life were simply a data point in a spreadsheet.
Palestinian deaths, in much Western coverage, are presented as data, not as human tragedy. Israeli deaths, by contrast, are narrated as personal stories.
This asymmetry is a form of dehumanization. Because when Palestinian life is reduced to numbers alone, the pain is no longer felt.
On March 18, Sky News not only verified data—it inadvertently documented a deeper truth: that the war in Gaza destroys not only bodies but also the ability to see them as human. This pattern of systematic destruction, killing 9 civilians for every militant in the deadliest strikes, reinforces the International Court of Justice’s warnings about genocidal risks and highlights international complicity in normalizing the collective destruction of a people, as denounced by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (Sky News, 2025; International Court of Justice, 2025; Amnesty International, 2025; Human Rights Watch, 2025).
References
- Amnesty International. (2025). Israel/OPT: Post-ceasefire: Israel’s genocide in the occupied Gaza strip continues. [View full report at Amnesty International]
- Amnesty International. (2024). Israel/OPT: Evidence of war crimes amid Gaza bombings. Amnesty International.
- Geneva Conventions. (1949/1977). Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. [View at International Committee of the Red Cross]
- Human Rights Watch. (2025). World Report 2025: Israel and Palestine. Human Rights Watch.
- Human Rights Watch. (2024). Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza. Human Rights Watch.
- International Court of Justice. (2025). Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). [View at ICJ]
- Le Monde. (2024, October 13). Why the Gaza Health Ministry’s death count is considered reliable. [Read full article at Le Monde]
- Sky News. (2025, July 29). Gaza’s deadliest days linked by a pattern of attacks on families. [Read full report at Sky News]
- Spagat, M., et al. (2025). Violent and non-violent death tolls for the Gaza conflict: new primary evidence from a population-representative field survey. The Lancet Global Health. [Access full article via DOI]
- United Nations Human Rights Council. (2025, September 16). Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds. [Read press release at OHCHR]
- United Nations Human Rights Council. (2024). Report on violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. United Nations Human Rights Council.
Published March 2026. This analysis draws on verified sources; it does not endorse unverified claims.
