Rizky Amelia
A deadly Israeli drone operation employing a "double-tap" tactic has claimed the lives of two Palestinians, including a 15-year-old student, in the northern district of Gaza City. The assault took place in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, casting further scrutiny on the durability of the United States-brokered ceasefire agreement that had been put in place between Israel and Hamas in October of the previous year.
The incident unfolded when an initial drone bombardment struck a group of Palestinians in the area, a raid that Israeli authorities subsequently asserted was aimed at targeting active Hamas personnel. However, the operational method used—commonly referred to as a double-tap attack—involved an initial explosion followed by a subsequent precision strike launched at the exact same location once bystanders and emergency workers converged to provide medical aid to the wounded.
In the first blast, Palestinian Civil Defence paramedic Sharif Shadi Labad sustained critical injuries. Eyewitness accounts and video documentation showed Labad lying gravely wounded on the ground among the rubble of destroyed buildings, fighting for his life in the immediate aftermath of the initial explosion.
Shortly after the first missile hit, a crowd of nearby civilians and rescue volunteers rushed toward the scene in an attempt to pull Labad to safety and administer urgent first aid. As the rescue effort was underway, a second drone loitering above launched another munition directly into the gathered crowd at the exact spot where the injured paramedic lay. Observers believe the weapon deployed in this secondary attack was an Israeli-manufactured Mikholit guided glide bomb.
The secondary detonation proved fatal for 15-year-old schoolboy Mohammad Abdul Zinati, who had joined the group attempting to assist the stricken paramedic. Several other individuals who had hurried to the rescue scene were also wounded in the blast, according to local Palestinian news reports. The teenager’s grieving father stated that his son was simply making his way home from school when he encountered the chaotic scene and tried to offer help.
Following the strike, visual footage showed Zinati’s body wrapped in a white burial shroud outside the al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City. The boy's father was seen weeping alongside his remains, reciting verses from the Quran and declaring his faith in God as the ultimate protector amid the tragic loss.
Colleagues and local residents also gathered to honor Labad, carrying his shroud-covered body on a gurney during a funeral procession through Gaza City. Members of the Civil Defence held portraits of the fallen paramedic while mourners chanted vows to persevere in their rescue mission despite the continuous dangers facing frontline emergency personnel.
The fatal strike in Sheikh Radwan is part of an ongoing series of military operations that have severely undermined the ceasefire declared in October 2025. Since that agreement was finalized, near-daily Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have resulted in the deaths of at least 1,381 Palestinians and left another 4,757 wounded, demonstrating the precarious and volatile nature of the truce.
On a broader scale, the overall human toll since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023 has reached catastrophic levels. Verified figures indicate that at least 73,795 individuals have been killed and more than 174,869 wounded across the territory. In a single 24-hour window leading up to Wednesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed that six additional people had been killed and 71 injured in strikes across the besieged enclave.
The heavy toll on the youngest residents of Gaza remains a point of deep international concern. Data released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed that over 64,000 children were either killed or wounded in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and October 7, 2025.
Reacting to these figures, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder voiced sharp criticism over the continued loss of young lives under the supposed truce. Beigbeder emphasized that a cessation of hostilities resulting in the death of an average of one child every day is fundamentally failing minors, leaving hundreds severely injured while they continue waiting for the safety promised to them.
The utilization of double-tap strikes by the Israeli military has drawn sustained condemnation from human rights observers and international organizations. While the primary hit is typically aimed at eliminating an alleged target, the subsequent explosion frequently endangers and kills first responders, medical staff, and innocent bystanders who assemble to rescue survivors.
Similar tactics have previously led to major casualties among humanitarian and media personnel. In August 2025, a double-tap bombardment targeting a section of the Nasser Hospital complex in southern Gaza killed 20 people. That strike claimed the lives of medical staff and six media workers, among them Mohammad Salama, a photographer working with Al Jazeera.
The operational doctrine behind these tactics was detailed in a joint investigation published by Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call. Drawing on statements from five Israeli security sources alongside testimonies from Palestinian rescue personnel, the report revealed that the military utilizes double-tap strikes to maximize the probability that an intended target is killed. Security sources cited in the investigation noted that the method is commonly used during imprecise strikes when commanders remain uncertain whether the intended target was present or successfully neutralized during the initial hit.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure continues to deteriorate rapidly. The Health Ministry issued an urgent alert warning that medical facilities are teetering on the edge of total breakdown due to severe Israeli restrictions on the entry of fuel, specialized equipment, and basic medical supplies. The ministry issued an urgent appeal to the UN Security Council, the World Health Organization, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to intervene immediately before lack of resources causes additional preventable deaths.
Compounding the crisis, physical infrastructure across the enclave is increasingly prone to fatal failure. Gaza’s Civil Defence issued an urgent appeal to international agencies after a war-damaged residential structure collapsed in Gaza City, killing at least 20 people, including women and children, highlighting the compounding hazards facing civilians surviving among the enclave's ruins.
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