double tap strike

{{Short description|Bombing the same location a second time}}

{{Other uses|Double tap (disambiguation)}}

A double tap (named after the shooting technique where two shots are fired in rapid succession at the same target) is the practice of following a strike (be it bombardment such missile, air strikes, artillery shelling, or detonation of explosive weapon or improvised explosive device) with a second strike several minutes later, hitting emergency responders and medical personnel rushing to the site.{{Cite web|url=https://defendmedicalimpartiality.org/?p=2126|title=Double Tap Strikes: Deliberate Attacks on First Responders in Syria and Yemen – Defenders for Medical Impartiality|website=defendmedicalimpartiality.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-08-10}}{{cite news|last1=Woods|first1=Chris|last2=Yusufzai|first2=Mushtaq|title=Drone strikes in Pakistan -- Get the Data: The return of double-tap drone strikes|url=https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/08/01/get-the-data-the-return-of-double-tap-drone-strikes/|access-date=24 August 2015|agency=The Bureau of Investigative Journalism|date=August 1, 2013|archive-date=7 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807011637/https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/08/01/get-the-data-the-return-of-double-tap-drone-strikes/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite journal |author=Julian Thompson |author2=Marius Rehn |author3=Hans Morten Lossius |author4=David Lockey |date=24 September 2014 |title=Risks to emergency medical responders at terrorist incidents: a narrative review of the medical literature |journal=Critical Care |volume=18 |issue=5 |page=521 |doi=10.1186/s13054-014-0521-1 |doi-access=free |pmid=25323086 |pmc=4422304}}{{Cite web |title=Secondary Devices a Primary Concern {{!}} Office of Justice Programs |url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/secondary-devices-primary-concern |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=www.ojp.gov}} 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 (hors de combat).{{Cite journal |last=Alexander |first=Samuel |date=2018-02-21 |title=Double-Tap Warfare: Should President Obama Be Investigated for War Crimes? |url=https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol69/iss1/7 |journal=Florida Law Review |volume=69 |issue=1 |page=261 |issn=1045-4241}}

The double-tap strikes became easier to execute with introduction of the drone warfare;{{Cn|date=October 2024}} along with signature strikes, it became the subject of debate during the US war in Afghanistan.{{sfn | Grieco | Ikenberry | Mastanduno | 2022 | pp=303−304}} Double-tap strikes have been used by Saudi Arabia during its military intervention in Yemen,{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/16/repeated-airstrikes-take-toll-on-yemeni-civilians|title='After an hour the plane came back': repeated airstrikes take toll on Yemeni civilians|last=Dehghan|first=Saeed|date=16 September 2016|website=theguardian.com}}{{Cite magazine |date=2016-10-12 |title=The Human Rights Abuses in Yemen's "Forgotten War" |url=https://time.com/4528393/yemen-saudi-arabia-strike-wedding/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |magazine=Time |language=en}} by the United States in Pakistan and Yemen,{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/outrage-at-cias-deadly-double-tap-drone-attacks-8174771.html |title=Outrage at CIA's deadly 'double tap' drone |publisher=Independent |access-date=2013-05-25 |location=London |first=Jerome |last=Taylor |date=2012-09-25}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/drone-attacks-at-funerals-of-people-killed-in-drone-strikes/280821/ |title=Drone Attacks at Funerals of People Killed in Drone Strikes |publisher=The Atlantic |access-date=2019-04-29 |first=Conor |last=Friedersdorf |date=2013-10-24}}{{Cite news|date=2013-10-22|title=Drones kill rescuers in 'double tap', say activists|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-24557333|access-date=2021-02-21}} by Israel in Gaza in 2014 and also during Gaza war in 2024,{{cite news|last1=Bachmann|first1=Jutta|last2=Baldwin-Ragaven|first2=Laurel|last3=Hougen|first3=Hans-Petter|last4=Leaning|first4=Jennifer|last5=Kelly|first5=Karen|last6=Özkalipci|first6=Önder|last7=Reynolds|first7=Louis|last8=Vacas|first8=Alicia|title=Gaza 2014 - Findings of an Independent Medical Fact-Finding Mission|url=https://gazahealthattack.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/gazareport_eng.pdf|access-date=24 August 2015|agency=Physicians for Human Rights Israel|date=January 20, 2015}}{{Cite news |last=Mellen |first=Riley |date=2024-07-14 |title=Israel Struck Twice in Its Attack on Al-Mawasi, Videos and Photos Show |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/world/middleeast/israel-mawasi-strike-vehicles.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} by Russia and the Syrian government in the Syrian civil war,{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-49528495/idlib-double-tap-air-strike-russia-says-never-was|title=Idlib 'double tap' air strikes: Who's to blame?|work=BBC News |language=en-GB|access-date=2019-08-31}}{{Cite news |last=Parker |first=Claire |date=2022-07-22 |title=Russia and Syria conducted dozens of illegal 'double tap' strikes, report says |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/21/syria-russia-double-tap-airstrikes-report-war-crimes/ |access-date=2023-08-08 |issn=0190-8286}} and by Russia and Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially in the full-scale invasion in 2022.{{Cite web |last=Epstein |first=Jake |title=Russia is bombing the same targets moments apart to kill Ukrainian rescue crews that arrive to save survivors |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-double-tap-ukrainian-rescuers-bombing-same-targets-twice-2022-4 |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2024-06-08 |title=Attacks in Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions leave 28 dead, Moscow-appointed officials say |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kherson-drone-luhansk-aa5de3171da1126d0ae2a0dd59d419dc |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=AP News |language=en |quote=He said Ukrainian forces had 'deliberately made a repeat strike to create greater numbers of casualties' when 'residents of nearby houses ran out to help the injured.'}}