It is an innocuous term for a horrible tactic. A “double tap” sounds so innocent and unthreatening. In fact, it is a term saved for a particularly brutal kind of attack.
And so it seems was the fate of those who died in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. First one strike hit the building, ripping away a chunk of the wall and injuring the people inside.
Fifteen minutes later, as rescuers and journalists rushed in, and as the scene was being broadcast live, a second explosion ripped through the courtyard, killing those who had come to help.
Latest updates: Israel strikes Nasser hospital
So the first tap causes harm and brings people to the scene; the second inflicts yet more devastation upon the people who came to help.
It’s a tactic that’s been used by a variety of countries over the years, most recently by Russia in Ukraine and, enthusiastically, by Bashar al Assad while he was president of Syria.
This time, it left more than 20 people dead, among them medics, patients, and five journalists. The scenes of carnage were horrendous – we saw images of death and destruction. One man, a journalist who survived the explosions, was filmed sitting in the hospital, his head and body soaked in blood, utterly dazed.
Nasser is the last fully functioning hospital in southern Gaza. To see it struck again was, in the words of British surgeon Professor Nick Maynard, “barbarism in the extreme”.
He told Sky News: “This hospital has been bombed several times over the last 22 months. It is murder. These are war crimes killing innocent civilians. As barbaric as anything I have seen in Gaza.”
Among the dead was photographer Mariam Daqqa. Hours before her death, her name appeared on the front page of a leading Israeli newspaper, a credit for a haunting photo she had taken of an emaciated child.
Her press vest, recovered from the rubble, was later laid across her coffin while her camera, still marked by her own blood, was held aloft.
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Amanda Nasser, an American emergency nurse who had been working inside the hospital, survived by chance. “We were told to leave for [a] training session,” she said. “Thirty minutes later, the hospital was hit twice. Mariam was a dear friend. Getting that news broke me down.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the attack as “a tragic mishap” and an investigation has been opened. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) insists it does not deliberately target civilians; Mr Netanyahu says that Israel values the work of “journalists, health workers and all citizens”.
But it’s also a fact that Nasser hospital is a popular place for media workers to gather, to use the internet and to chase and trade stories. And if we know that, so does the Israeli military.
It would be naive to think that the chance of killing journalists, as well as, obviously, health workers, was not obvious to those who launched this attack. “We do not intentionally target civilians,” says the IDF’s spokesperson Effie Defrin. “We regret any harm to uninvolved individuals.”
And yet, somehow, it happened. Not just one explosion, but two.
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There are at least five different groups who try to keep track of how many journalists have been killed in Gaza. They all come up with different figures, but they agree that the total is above 200, and may even be more than 300.
And remember – foreign journalists are barred from entering Gaza, so the ability of the world to scrutinise what is actually happening on the ground in Gaza is largely dependent upon the work of these people, hundreds of whom are now dead.
Israel may not be targeting them, but it is certainly killing a lot of journalists along the way.
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This is a crucial moment in this conflict. Parts of Gaza have been designated as suffering from famine, just as Israel’s military might is readied for a huge operation to encircle and overwhelm Gaza City.
A ceasefire proposal is on the table, but Netanyahu seems reluctant to negotiate. On Tuesday, once again, Israel will face protests and strikes from those, including the families of hostages, demanding that their prime minister stop the war.
It is a volatile time, and Israel is a volatile country.
