The Killings They Tweeted: Screening and Q&A with Airwars and Tactical Tech

How can publicly available military footage be used to uncover the human cost of conflict? In this session, Jasmine Erkan (Tactical Tech) sits down with Rowena De Silva from Airwars, a London-based civilian harm watchdog, to explore their recent investigation - the largest public analysis to date of Israeli military strike footage.

In collaboration with Sky News, Airwars analyzed hundreds of videos posted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the first month of the war in Gaza, which claimed to show targeted strikes against Hamas and other militant groups. Despite the limited details provided in these grainy clips, Airwars cross-referenced 17 strikes with verified geo-coordinates—locations where their researchers had already documented Palestinian casualties. Their findings are stark: in these strikes alone, more than 400 civilians were reported killed.

Join us for a screening of key footage, followed by a discussion and Q&A with Rowena De Silva who will unpack Airwars’ methodology, the challenges of investigating military footage, and the broader implications and intended impact of their work in exposing civilian harm.

About the Speaker

Rowena De Silva is an investigative reporter at Airwars, a global watchdog for civilian harm. She holds an MA from the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London.

About Us

This event is hosted by Tactical Tech as part of the *Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI). Tactical Tech is an international non-profit organisation that engages with citizens and civil-society organisations to explore and mitigate the impacts of technology on society. Exposing the Invisible is a Tactical Tech project that develops resources, training and collaborations promoting investigation as one of the most important forms of public engagement.

This event is part of the CIJI project co-funded by the European Union. 

Disclaimer:

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.