How double-tap strikes have been used to kill journalists and first responders across war zones

Double-tap strikes like the one Israel used to target Nasser hospital maximise civilian casualties

Palestinian medics evacuate a casualty of Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on 25 August 2025 (AFP)

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Israel killed at least 19 people on Monday, including two Middle East Eye journalists, in "double-tap" air strikes on Nasser hospital in southern Gaza.

The air strike was captured on a live broadcast of Jordan's Al-Ghad TV, showing unarmed first responders in safety vests being obliterated. The bombing was especially bloody because of the military tactic used.

First, Israel bombed the fourth floor of the hospital in one strike, and then shortly after, it hit the hospital again.

Striking the same spot back-to-back after reporters, bystanders, and first responders gather at the scene has become commonly known as a “double-tap”.

Israel's staunch European ally, Germany, said it was "shocked" by the hospital attack.

United Nations rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement that journalists and hospitals should never be targeted. "The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world - not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice."

Israel is not the first or the only army to use the tactic, which has been criticised widely by human rights experts and even foreign governments on previous occasions.

As early as 2005, the FBI was issuing alert warnings that "terrorists may use secondary explosive devices to kill and injure emergency personnel responding to an initial attack".

During Syria’s civil war, Bashar al-Assad’s government became notorious for double-tap air strikes that led to staggering numbers of casualties for first-responders like the White Helmets.

Middle East Eye journalists Mohamed Salama and Ahmed Abu Aziz were among five reporters killed along with others working for Reuters, The Associated Press, and Al Jazeera in Monday's strike.

A sixth journalist, Hassan Douhan, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Khan Younis, according to the Gaza media office.

Double-tap strikes are very effective at killing journalists reporting on war crimes and atrocities because they are usually some of the first to rush to the scene of attacks.

Israel has been accused of waging a war on journalists during its war on Gaza, killing at least 246 journalists in the process, according to several human rights groups. The UN, as of June of this year, verified 227 deaths of journalists, out of which 197 were men and 30 were women.

Double-tap strikes from Assad to al-Qaeda

Marie Colvin, a former Sunday Times correspondent, was killed in February 2012 in Homs by a Syrian government double-tap strike. The first bombing hit a makeshift media centre in Homs, and the second killed Colvin, who a US federal court later found was deliberately targeted in the operation to silence her reporting.

Militant groups are also known to use double-tap strikes to maximise casualties and inflict maximum psychological pain on civilians.

In 2004, al-Qaeda conducted a double-tap bombing near the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing over 100 people. In 2009, the Taliban used a double-tap bombing to kill at least 30 people at a bazaar in Peshawar. A 2010 double-tap bombing targeting a Shia procession in Karachi, Pakistan, killed at least 25 people.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group conducted dozens of double-tap bombings to maximise casualties, as first responders and victims’ loved ones rushed to the scene of the initial attacks.

Israel kills Middle East Eye journalists in double-tap strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital

A 2016 IS bombing in Baghdad’s Karrada district killed over 300 people. The group repeated the attack in Baghdad again in 2018, killing at least 30 people in a Baghdad market.

The effectiveness of double-tap strikes to cause a chilling effect among first responders and journalists has also seen their use proliferate by Russia in the Ukraine war.

A Russian double-tap strike on Odessa killed at least 20 people, including first responders.

The US has provided near-unconditional support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but the US has specifically condemned Russia for similar tactics.

In 2024, the US envoy to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe criticised Russia for “iterative attacks” killing rescue workers and first responders.

The US itself has used double-tap strikes, especially during its so-called “war on terror”.

In 2012, a CIA drone strike hit a mosque in Pakistan’s northern Waziristan region, killing people who rushed to the scene of an earlier bombing.

Amnesty International has previously condemned the US for such attacks.

In 2013, Amnesty said the US was conducting “rescuer attacks in which those who ran to the aid of the victims of an initial drone strike were themselves targeted in a rapid follow-on attack”.

“While there may have been a presumption that the rescuers were members of the group being targeted, it is difficult to see how such distinctions could be made in the immediate and chaotic aftermath of a missile strike,” the Amnesty statement, criticising the US practice, said.

Israel's use of double-taps

Monday's attack on Nasser hospital is not the first time Israel has used double-tap strikes.

According to a July 2025 report by Israeli magazine+972, Israel used a double-tap strike after killing a Hamas commander and two Israeli captives in northern Gaza. The second strike killed Palestinian civilians who gathered at the site of the first bombing.

According to +972, Israel has also used double-tap strikes on schools in Gaza. In May 2025, Israel bombed a school multiple times in Jabalia to prevent first responders from rescuing children sheltering there. The magazine reported that Israeli soldiers used the threat of a double-tap strike to get first responders to abandon the school.

Ali Khawas, the head of communications at Gaza's civil defence, told +972 that follow-up strikes on rescuers often occur "minutes" after they arrive at the site of initial bombing sites.

In April, 22 rescuers in Gaza were targeted by an Israeli drone in a double-tap strike responding to a bombing at a home in Jabalia, Khawas told the magazine.

In some cases, double-tap strikes have killed family members days after the initial bombing. In September 2024, two brothers and a cousin were killed in Gaza City as they dug through the rubble of a bombed family apartment.

The second leg of the double-tap strike on the ruined building took place two days after the initial one, according to The Times.

Israel's genocide in Gaza

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