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.[1][2][3][4] 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.[5]

While the practice is not new, the double-tap strikes became easer to execute with introduction of the drone warfare and, along with signature strikes, became the subject of debate during the US war in Afghanistan.[6] Double-tap strikes have been used by Saudi Arabia during its military intervention in Yemen,[7][8] by the United States in Pakistan and Yemen,[9][10][11] and most recently by Israel in Gaza,[12] by Russia and the Syrian government in the Syrian civil war[13][14] and by Russia and Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially in the full-scale invasion in 2022.[15][16]