Israel-Palestine, Sudan, Uganda.

Today's three stories you should know.

Israel-Palestine

Claim and counter-claim continue to swirl over the blast at a hospital in Gaza that is reported to have killed hundreds of people. I will note a few key things: 1) The Gaza health ministry says that at least 471 people were killed and that an Israeli air strike is to blame. 2) Israel says that a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad is to blame. 3) Israel has lied about such strikes in the past so it’s important that what it says is independently verified by the media. 4) This is why waiting for investigations from trusted media outlets with expertise in Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is vital - OSINT reporting is the practice of piecing together events from video, satellite imagery, data etc. 5) While there is a lot of it out there, I haven’t seen an OSINT investigation convincing enough or well-reported enough that I’m comfortable sharing it with you. When I do, you will see it in Proximities.

More from AP here.

Sudan

At least 68 villages in Sudan’s Darfur region have been set on fire since a conflict broke out in the country six months ago, according to the Centre for Information Resilience. The BBC reported it had viewed the evidence, which is based on satellite imagery, social media data and Nasa heat-recognition technology. The UK Minister for Africa, Andrew Mitchell, said it bore "all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing."

More from BBC here.

Uganda

Uganda will hunt down those responsible for killing a safari guide and a honeymooning couple from the UK and South Africa in a national park, its president said today. “These terrorists will pay with their own wretched lives," President Yoweri Museveni said. Ugandan authorities blamed the ISIS-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group for the attack, and ISIS also claimed responsibility in its official channel on the messaging app Telegram. The ADF is a Ugandan group that hides out in the deep bush of neighboring Congo. It has stepped up attacks in recent months.

More from Reuters here.