What are double-tap strikes that Israel used to hit a hospital?

In a deadly Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, 20 people were killed, including journalists and medical personnel.

In fact, the hospital in Khan Younis was struck twice on Monday, 10 minutes apart, about 10 a.m. (GMT).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a statement that Israel regrets what he described as a “tragic mishap” only in an English-language statement, without explaining how Israel had twice struck the same hospital in an ostensible error.

What does a double-tap strike mean exactly? Is it permitted? What we are aware of is:

What transpired at Nasser Hospital?

Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters cameraman who was directing the news agency’s live feed, was the first to strike the hospital’s top storey.

Rescue workers and journalists who had fled the scene to assist after the first strike were killed during the second strike, which was captured on camera.

Dr. Mimi Syed, who has conducted two volunteer missions to Gaza, told CNN that Israel had instructed foreign doctors to leave the hospital before the attack for “some arbitrary reason” and that they were instructed not to do so until the following day. Netanyahu’s claim of a “tragic mishap” is “absolutely untrue.

https://x.com/_ZachFoster/status/1960073822985437419

A double-tap strike is what?

It’s basically two strikes on the same target.

The second strike is intended to kill any rescuers who come in for assistance, the first one or people.

Under former President Barack Obama’s administration, the United States is thought to have been one of the first to extensively use double-tap drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan.

Other armies, such as those of Ukraine’s Bashar al-Assad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, adopted the tactic.

How frequently does Israel use it?

According to a&nbsp, a joint investigation by Israeli publications + 972 and Local Call, Israel is now “routinely” using the tactic in its war against Gaza.

According to a source in one of the military command centers oversawing the strikes, planners are aware that the tactic amounts to a death sentence for the a few hundred or so victims of the initial strike and their aides.

The source explained that if a senior commander is struck, another one will be carried out in the future to prevent rescue efforts.

They kill first responders and rescue teams, according to the saying. They return and strike on top of them.

Is it permitted?

Not at all.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the targeting of medical personnel, those assisting in rescue efforts, or those who were hurt during the first strike, are known as double strikes.

In fact, the strikes on Monday targeted a hospital with a large number of doctors, nurses, and journalists.

Despite the fact that all of the above are protected by international law, Israel has consistently been accused of attacking them during its conflict in Gaza.

The total number of civil defense and healthcare workers Israel has killed during its war in Gaza is unknown. According to an Al Jazeera report, the number of journalists killed by Israel in Gaza on Monday is at least 273, making it the deadliest conflict for reporters ever.

Israel has also been accused of repeatedly attacking journalists with a purposeful intention in Gaza.

These are they “warning taps”?

No, you’re not referring to “roof-knocking.”

Roof-knocking is the practice of “warning” residents that a larger strike is imminent and ostensibly to give them time to evacuate by dropping light ammunition onto the roof of a target shortly before a primary strike.

Whole extended families would be forced to flee their homes in a matter of minutes when a residential building knocks on the roof.

What Israel refers to as “roof-knocking” refers to its earlier attacks on Gaza, including those in 2008, 2012, and 2014, and is frequently confused with any kind of warnings issued to residents of the area Israel wants to attack, sometimes giving them as little as five minutes to leave.

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations claim that Israel manipulates the initial strike to create a double tap by using heavier weapons during what might be a humanitarian measure.

Amnesty International criticized the practice during Israel’s 2014 offensive against Gaza, saying that “there is no way that firing a missile at a civilian home can constitute an effective “warning.”

Israel announced it would no longer give Palestinians this warning two days after it began its current conflict with Gaza. Instead, it stated that people would be guided out of harm’s way by text messaging and outdated maps.

[Screengrab/Al Jazeera] Journalists killed on August 25, 2025 in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital

What was said by Israel?

Netanyahu claimed that Israel “values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians,” adding that “the military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation.”

https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1960030187933835604

The Israeli army claimed in a statement that it regrets “any harm to uninvolved individuals” and does not discriminate against journalists.

Israel will undoubtedly conduct an investigation?

According to an analysis released in August by Action on Armed Violence, 88 percent of the inquiries the Israeli military claimed to be conducting into its own conduct were stalled or closed without action.

Israel has known that 83 percent of the people it was killing during its war in Gaza, or 52, 000 of those killed, according to a leaked report from its own conflict.

Who were the five journalists killed in Israel’s Gaza hospital attack?

At least 21 people were killed in the attack on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, including five journalists who worked for Al Jazeera, according to Israel, which has received a lot of negative reviews.

The attack on Monday involved two “double taps,” the second of which was captured on camera and showed journalists and rescuers being directly hit on a staircase.

Since its occupation of Gaza in October 2023, Israel has since killed more than 270 journalists and media figures. A sixth journalist, Hassan Douhan, who worked as a correspondent for Al-Hayat al-Jadida newspaper, was killed in a separate incident in Khan Younis later on Monday, not just the journalists killed by the Nasser Hospital attack.

The journalists who were killed made up Gaza’s dwindling but increasingly close-knit media community. They had already endured almost two years of war, which had an impact on both their professional and personal lives.

Ahmed Abu Aziz

Ahmed Abu Aziz, a Palestinian journalist who was killed on August 25, 2025 during Israeli attacks on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, uploads a selfie.

Ahmed Abu Aziz, 29, was admired by his modesty, charity, and humility.

Ahmed had a reputation for being well-known in Gaza’s media scene, and he collaborated with organizations like Middle East Eye, Quds Feed, and the Independent Commission for Human Rights.

Ahmed was unable to travel around Gaza because of the conflict. He would frequently travel by foot across the Gaza Strip to investigate reports of Israeli war crimes committed against Palestinian civilians.

Ahmed got married in July of last year, and he was also working on a doctoral dissertation at Tunisia’s Institute for Press and Information Sciences, which expressed regret for his death and condemned journalists’ harassment in Gaza.

Hussam al-Masri

Palestinian cameraman Hussam al-Masri, who was a contractor for Reuters and killed in Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital on August 25, 2025, works at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 7, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
Hussam al-Masri, a contractor for the Reuters news agency, was killed at Nasser Hospital on August 25, 2025.

Hussam al-Masri, 49, worked for Reuters news agency as a contractor and photojournalist for Palestine TV. Nasser Hospital’s live video feed, which Hussam claimed “suddenly shut down at the time of the initial]Israeli] strike,” was running for Reuters.

Hussam’s devotion to his work was demonstrated even as he dealt with personal difficulties.

Amr Tabash, a journalist who was writing Hussam’s death on Instagram, recalls that he had asked him to “help me evacuate my wife” in a broken voice a few days prior. She is suffering from an illness, and I can no longer bear to watch her go through that.

Hussam was one of the last patients to leave Nasser Hospital during an Israeli siege in December, according to Amr, who described him as devoted to helping others. Since Hussam is no longer able to help his wife, Amr requested that she do so.

Hussam has lost his partner and family, but his wife is still fighting cancer alone, in excruciating pain, according to Amr. Do not allow his wife to be put to death in silence for Hussam’s sake, for the cause to which he devoted his life, and for his children.

Mariam Abu Daqqa

Freelance journalist Mariam Dagga, 33, who had been working with the Associated Press and other outlets during the Gaza war, poses for a portrait in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on June 14, 2024. Dagga was one of several journalists killed along with other people in Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
On June 14, 2024, freelancer Mariam Abu Daqqa, 33, worked for The Associated Press and other outlets in Khan Younis. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

A 13-year-old boy named Ghaith was the mother of Mariam Abu Daqqa, a 33-year-old Palestinian journalist.

Ghaith was sent to live with his father in the United Arab Emirates out of fear for his safety during the war.

Mariam contributed to Independent Arabia while working as a freelance photographer for a number of international publications, including The Associated Press.

She was well-known among her coworkers because of how diligently and unapologetically she kept tabs on the suffering of the Palestinian people. Even under repeated Israeli assaults on Gaza, she remained on the front lines, among the journalists covering the conflict at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Mariam documented numerous human accounts that revealed the suffering Palestinians are enduring under siege and bombardment.

Mariam was also devoted to her family. She had previously given her father, who had kidney failure, a kidney she had previously donated. However, she was unable to save her mother, who had been battling cancer for four months because Gaza’s lack of treatment was unreachable.

Mohammad Salama

Palestinian journalist Mohammad Salama.
On August 25, 2025, Israeli airstrikes on Nasser Hospital killed Al Jazeera journalist Mohammad Salama. [Handout via Reuters]

Mohammad Salama worked for Al Jazeera in Gaza as a 24-year photojournalist and cameraman. He was born and educated in the town’s schools in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis.

In February of this year, he began working as a cameraman for Al Jazeera. Even in the most difficult circumstances, he was admired by his professionalism, dedication, cheerful smile, and upbeat spirit among his coworkers.

Mohammad lived with his father and his family until he lost his mother in childhood. He proposed to journalist Hala Asfour in November, expecting their wedding after a truce or ceasefire.

Mohammad received a photography diploma while attending a vocational college. He took numerous courses, shadowed veteran journalists, and developed his passion for photojournalism as a young child.

After an Israeli operation in Khan Younis in December 2023, he was one of the few journalists who were evacuated, but he was temporarily forced to leave when Israeli forces stormed Nasser Hospital and ejected displaced residents from the city at gunpoint.

The journalist who was killed in the war would later be killed in the same hospital.

Moaz Abu Taha

Moaz Abu Taha, a Palestinian journalist who had worked with some Palestinian and international outlets, walks in a lot in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 18, 2025.
Moaz Abu Taha collaborated with several international and Palestinian outlets.

A 27-year-old freelance video journalist from Palestine, Moaz Abu Taha.

Before losing his life along with his colleagues, Moaz was one of the younger photojournalists who covered the destruction of Gaza.

He wrote on Facebook that, “By God, our strength is gone” after the tragic death of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif two weeks prior.

Moaz frequently assisted patients, the less fortunate, and children because he was known for his humor, kindness, and humanity.

After learning about the initial strike at Nasser Hospital, his brother, journalist Adly Abu Taha, called him. “I called him right away. He responded, “Hussam al-Masri has been killed, but I’m fine.” I pleaded with him to leave and said, “May God have mercy on him.”

Israel bombs once-bustling Gaza City neighbourhood Zeitoun to rubble

Zeitoun, formerly a prosperous, active neighborhood in Gaza City, is renowned for its bustling markets, olive groves, and tight-knit community. Here, families of all generations are creating lives, memories, and futures.

Timeoun is unrecognizable today. Flattening has been used to flatten entire blocks. Hani Mahmoud from Al Jazeera has spoken with former residents of the neighborhood who had their homes razed to rubble.

The roof collapsed on our heads as we slept, and the pieces were all over us by midnight. We were terrified when we woke up. I donned my prayer gown and began calling my children. I gave them the names Sanad, Mahdi, Mohamed, and Ibrahim. But the dust and the rubble kept me from seeing them, Feryal Ahmed said.

Since beginning its sustained assault on Gaza City on August 6, Israel has completely destroyed more than 1, 000 structures, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, which has claimed earlier this month.

Nearly 1 million Palestinians have been forced southward to concentration areas by Israeli tanks as Israel attempts to occupy Gaza City to its fullest extent.

The destruction is colossal. What once had color and sound is now gray, buried in dust, and silent.

Everything in Zeitoun was stunning, according to the author.

As long as I’m still breathing, I will never forget Zeitoun. It is tragic. The Israelis’ actions toward the neighborhood have caused me to feel hurt. “Everything in Zeitoun was beautiful, including the birds, the water, the greenery, the farmlands, the olive trees,” said Mahdi Awad.

Neighbours who once shared meals with each other’s homes now snooze in the open, grieving, and uncertain of the future.

For about a week now, several homes have been hit in Gaza City, particularly its Zeitoun and Sabra neighborhoods.

A deeper wound, the displacement of families, the silencing of neighborhoods, and the loss of history, lies beneath the mounds of debris and concrete.

“This neighborhood’s buildings are at the heart of the destruction, far more than just those.” Living in Gaza is almost impossible because the majority of the infrastructure, residential areas, mosques, mosques, waterways, and even pipelines and water networks have been severely damaged, according to Asem al-Nabih, a spokesperson for the municipality.

Zeitoun is the only place a young Palestinians have ever known, not just a place on the map.

“I attended there, and I was raised there. I’m one of the neighborhood’s children. I would like to be told to go back when I wake up. I still want to go back, said young Palestinian resident Mahdi Khaled, even if it has been bombed or if everything has vanished.

Despite the destruction, this yearning surpasses the fear of bombardment.

The people of Zeitoun continue to tell the story of Zeitoun, from life to death, and from rubble to longing. They believe that their home is more than just walls and a roof; it is also a sense of belonging and return.

Palestinians salvage items from the rubble of the Gaza City neighborhood’s southern al-Zeitoun neighborhood on August 19, 2025 [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP]

Healing Haiti’s Children: Inside one of Port-au-Prince’s last hospitals

Kareen Ulysse searches for supplies at her family-run hospital as gang violence grips Haiti.

Kareen Ulysse chooses to stay and keep her family-run hospital in Cite Soleil’s gang-controlled area open despite the fact that many people are being forced to flee Haiti’s devastation. More than a million people have been forced to live elsewhere as a result of the chaos that has left many babies abandoned at Hospital Fontaine’s neonatal clinic.

The difficulty of getting urgent medical supplies gets worse as the airport is closed and hospitals are under increased attack. Kareen is forced to race against the clock to get the oxygen that is so important to the newborns in her care.

US judge rejects Trump’s lawsuit against Maryland federal court system

A lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, which claimed every judge in the Maryland district court system had “used and abused” their powers, was overturned by a US court.

The Maryland judges requested the case be dismissed, but District Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, granted it on Tuesday.

Cullen typically serves in the western district of Virginia’s federal court system, but because the case’s defendants included all 15 Maryland district court judges, it required the addition of a state representative to the state.

The lawsuit was a broad-strokes, highly unusual attack on the Maryland federal court system, where Trump’s immigration agenda has experienced a number of troubling setbacks.

Critics claim that the lawsuit is yet another example of Donald Trump’s antagonistic policy toward the judiciary, which he has repeatedly accused of overstepping its authority in the wake of unfavorable decisions.

Cullen had, however, earlier questioned the Trump administration’s case during hearings on it.

If Trump and his officials filed a lawsuit against the government’s separation of powers, he questioned what might happen to their constitutional rights.

Cullen called the lawsuit against all of the federal judges in Maryland “taking it up about six notches” in Trump’s dispute with the judiciary.

Cullen told Trump’s Department of Justice attorneys, “I think you probably picked up on my skepticism.”

Cullen also suggested that filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration would have been preferable to the administration itself rather than the entire district court system.

He claimed that “it would have been quicker than the two months we’ve been working on this,” “you know what I mean.”

The lawsuit’s origins

On June 25, the Trump administration filed a first lawsuit. The Justice Department stated at the time that it opposed the “automatic injunctions” the court system “issued for federal immigration enforcement actions.”

Since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has spearheaded a campaign against mass deportation. In response to that effort, there have been numerous legal disputes over, among other things, immigrants’ right to a court hearing.

Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that Trump had been the subject of “an endless barrage of injunctions designed to stop his agenda” when she announced the lawsuit filed in June.

The complaint cited a May 20 order from Maryland’s district court system, which forbids the Trump administration from deporting people who have filed a habeas corpus petition, which seeks court review of the legality of their detention.

The deportation ban would be in place for two business days unless a judge made a decision to extend it, according to Russell’s order.

Russell defended the deportation push, claiming that “hurried and frustrating hearings” that lacked “clear and concrete” information were the outcome of the Trump administration’s deportation push.

He added that his decree would give immigrants and the government “full opportunity” to file their cases.

The Trump administration’s agenda has also faced other court challenges in Maryland, but Russell’s order was the only one that was raised in the lawsuit.

In spite of a 2019 court protection order forbidding his removal, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return was “facilitated,” according to Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis’ ruling in April.

Since then, Xinis has insisted that she was considering filing a contempt charge against the Trump administration for breaking her orders.

What justifications were there for the case?

However, the Trump administration has argued that the judges’ court orders constitute “unlawful restraint” of the president’s authority.

According to the complaint, “injunctions against the Executive Branch are particularly extraordinary because they interfere with that democratically accountable branch’s exercise of its constitutional powers.”

Justice Department attorneys testified in front of Judge Cullen during a hearing on August 13 about those claims.

Our sovereign interests in enforcing properly-enacted immigration law are being impeded, argued Justice Department lawyer Elizabeth Hedges.

Maryland’s 15 federal judges were required to employ their own legal team to defend their case due to the extraordinary nature of the entire court system being sued.

At the hearing, Paul Clement, a conservative attorney from Clement &amp, Murphy, who previously served under former president George W. Bush, addressed the group and said the Trump administration’s attacks were “no ordinary matter.”

He claimed that the lawsuit interfered with the court system’s routine, including making it necessary for Judge Cullen to visit Virginia to take the case over.

That kind of nightmare scenario can be avoided using all the available alternatives, Clement said. According to the author, “That nightmare scenario is a significant component of why we don’t have an executive versus judiciary suit tradition.”

Clement claimed that the Trump administration intended to restrict the judiciary’s ability to weigh constitutional issues involving immigration.