A double tap is the practice of following a strike (be it bombardment such as missile strike, air strike, artillery shelling, or detonation of explosive weapon or improvised explosive device) with a deliberately timed second strike several minutes later, hitting emergency responders and medical personnel rushing to the site, usually in an attempt to maximize the casualties of an attack. [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, and those no longer able to continue fighting. [5]
The use of double-tap strikes by coalition forces during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) sparked debate due to the possibility of non-combatants, including medical personnel, being among those responding to the first strike and therefore being hit by the second strike. [6] Double-tap strikes have been used by Saudi Arabia during its military intervention in Yemen, [7] [8] by the United States in Pakistan, Yemen, and the Gulf of Mexico, [9] [10] [11] [12] by Israel in Gaza in 2014, 2024 and 2025, [13] [14] [15] by Russia and the Syrian government in the Syrian civil war, [16] [17] and by Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially since the full-scale invasion in 2022. [18]
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