Double tap strike

A double tap is originally a shooting technique where two shots are fired in rapid succession at the same target. More recently it has expanded to refer to the practice of following a strike, e.g., a missile, air strikes, artillery shelling or improvised explosive device attack with a second strike several minutes later, hitting emergency responders and medical personnel rushing to the site. A Florida Law Review article argued that the practice likely is a war crime since it grossly violates the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which prohibit targeting civilians, the wounded, or those no longer able to continue fighting.

While the practice is not new, the double-tap strikes became easier to execute with introduction of the drone warfare and, along with signature strikes, became the subject of debate during the US war in Afghanistan. Double-tap strikes have been used by Saudi Arabia during its military intervention in Yemen, by the United States in Pakistan and Yemen,   by Israel in Gaza in 2014 and also during Israel-Hamas war in 2024, by Russia and the Syrian government in the Syrian civil war  and by Russia and Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially in the full-scale invasion in 2022.