Hey, my beloved investigators!

In today’s blog, I will write about another spontaneous OSINT/GEOINT challenge I performed during which I had to find the exact geolocation of an image.

This challenge was posted by Baptiste Robert a legendary French Security Researcher & the CEO of Predicta Lab on his X profile. As always, I couldn’t resist taking on the challenge; it’s just not my nature to let things go without digging in, even tho it was hella hard. First and foremost, I looked into the posted image to gather initial impressions regarding the background, objects, and overall atmosphere. The goal was to identify indicators that could provide clues leading to the precise geolocation of the challenge image.

In tackling this particular challenge, it’s crucial to highlight the complexity of searching for visual objects. Unlike many other places globally, the Gaza Strip lacks Google Street View and recent photos, making the investigative process notably challenging. Compounded by the fact that it’s a war zone, certain areas have undergone significant changes, rendering past satellite photos irrelevant. In navigating this challenge, the key was leveraging a variety of tools, cross-referencing information, and, most importantly, thinking creatively beyond conventional approaches.

Given the limited number of indicators in this picture, my primary focus centered on the white and red painted barrier wall lining the road. Additionally, a bench resembling that of a bus stop/station is observable.This suggests that the location might be in a public area, such as a school, university, city center, or a similar public space.

My initial step involved navigating to the URL path of the original photo to utilize an online EXIF tool, aiming to gather metadata.

I decided to use a great online EXIF data viewer tool named Jimpl. While it’s occasionally possible to extract the exact geolocation from image metadata, this time it didn’t contain any location data. However, it did provide other valuable information, including the DateTimeOriginal of the image, the city, the author’s name, image description, and various camera settings such as the lens used and the camera model.

This data could prove useful in the later stages of the investigation.

From this wealth of information, we can deduce that the picture was taken by Bashar Taleb, an AP News photographer, on 22/01/2024 at 12:38 PM in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.

Following this, I opted to visit the AP Newsroom website to explore photos captured by the photographer Bashar Taleb. I discovered 9 additional images taken on the same day, potentially in the same area as the original picture, providing further insight.

Khan Younis proves to be a considerably large area to investigate, especially considering the absence of street views, pictures, and up-to-date satellite imagery. Furthermore, it’s a densely populated and overcrowded location. The city spans a total area of 54.56 km2.

The strategy I employed in this specific challenge involved leveraging the information obtained from the image and its metadata effectively. To achieve this, I turned to a highly influential tool that gained prominence during the Russia-Ukraine war named Liveuamap. Live Universal Awareness Map, commonly known as Liveuamap, is an online tool/website designed to monitor and display activities on interactive geographic maps, with a primary focus on areas experiencing ongoing armed conflicts. There is an option to specifically search for incidents based on date and time, so I searched for January 22, 2024, and found a lot of incidents in the Khan Yunis area which potentially show that On that day, the primary focus of the battles, according to news sources, was there.

As per news sources, the attacks were aimed at Nasser Hospital.

Upon examining other pictures taken by the photographer, I observed a prominent, lengthy road where people were both walking and driving cars. Consequently, I chose to search for the main road in Khan Yunis, as it would aid in identifying the approximate area.

I visually identified three main roads with the assistance of Google Maps: El Baheer Road, Salah Al Deen Road, and Gamal Abdel Nasser Road. The bombings in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital were near El Baheer Road.

Furthermore, I opted to manually search for other incidents of bombings in Khan Yunis and engage in some dumpster diving and SOCMINT.

After a long and tough search, I found that there were bombings near Al-Aqsa University in Khan Yunis.In this particular challenge, I chose to use Arabic to access more specialized news sources. ( I translated it to English so you will be able to read it).

Additionally, during my Facebook search, I discovered a video where I recognized the same pattern on the wall (red and white).

I identified a large gate near the wall, which I later discovered to be the entrance gate of Al-Aqsa University.

I searched for Al-Aqsa University (Arabic: جامعة الأقصى) on Facebook, narrowing it down to posts and videos from the same date (January 22). I stumbled upon numerous videos showcasing the area of the university, including the big gate.

As evident, the distance between the hospital and the university is a mere 1.92 kilometers, both situated on the same road named El Baheer.

I looked up the university on Google Maps, and guess what I found? The same patterned wall from the original challenge picture. So, from this, we can conclude that the wall indeed encloses the university area.

I expanded my search to YouTube using جامعة الأقصى — غـزة to find videos of the university, compensating for the scarcity of pictures of the external areas and found this video.

I marked the main road (El Baheer) in green, and I circled the large university gate in red.

I discovered evidence on Facebook indicating the presence of a bus station near the university. This corresponds to the bench I highlighted earlier in the challenge picture.

Here is a satellite image pinpointing the exact geolocation of the challenge image. I’ve drawn red lines indicating the wall surrounding the university, a green line representing the main road, and a yellow circle marking the precise location from which the image was shot.

Coordinates: 31.358380381635524, 34.27647270762056

This map includes data from AirbusMapa GISrael

Imagery from the dates:5/2/2022 In conclusion, this challenge presented unique difficulties owing to the scarcity of visual sources typically employed in previous investigations, such as community-uploaded images and street views. The geographic scope of this challenge is notably constrained due to the ongoing conflict.

The success of the investigation hinged on creativity and strategic thinking at each step. Determining which tools to use, where to seek information, and how to navigate when visual data is limited, required a thoughtful approach.

I’m delighted that Robert shared this challenging scenario, pushing me to explore different investigative avenues. I hope you found this blog enjoyable and informative. Always keep in mind that success relies on your creativity and ability to think outside the box. No superpowers needed.