Israeli ‘double-tap’ air strike responsible for killing schoolboy in Gaza

An Israeli coordinated double‑strike aircraft bomb dropped two casualties on Tuesday in Gaza City, despite the US‑brokered “ceasefire” reached between Israel and Hamas last autumn.

Israel targeted a cluster of Palestinians in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza City, claiming they posed a Hamas threat.

An “double‑tap” strike—an attack that detonates twice, waiting for first responders to arrive before the second blast—is described as especially lethal because the second hit often targets rescuers.

When the weapon detonated once, nearby civilians rushed to assist while medics treated wounds; moments later a second drone struck the same coordinates, maximizing victimization.

The initial blast left Palestinian Civil Defence paramedic Sharif Shadib Labad mortally injured on the ground amid shattered structures.

Palestinian‑uploaded video captured residents moving to rescue Ladab, then a second drone flying overhead targeted the exact location. Investigators confirmed the projectile was a Mikhlot, an Israeli‑developed guided glide bomb.

Seconds later the second explosion claimed the life of 15‑year‑old schoolboy Mohammad Abdul Zinati, one of those attempting to aid the paramedic. His father later stated he was returning home from school when the strike hit.

Footage showed Zinati’s body draped in a white shroud outside Al‑Shifa Hospital, and his father whispered a prayer and quoted the Quran before the scene.

This violent incident is not the first Israeli strike in Gaza since the October ceasefire, although the current exchange has unfolded amid ongoing warfare.

Since the ceasefire in October 2025, loss tallies exceed 1,381 deaths and approximately 4,757 injuries; overall, since Israel’s campaign began in October 2023, at least 73,795 people have been killed and 174,869 wounded.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that, in the preceding twenty‑four hours, six civilians were killed and 71 injured in the besieged enclave.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted last month that more than 64,000 children were killed or injured between October 7 2023 and October 7 2025, urging that a ceasefire resulting in an average child death each day fails the youngest vulnerable groups.

“A ceasefire that leaves an average child dead each and every day is failing children,” said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder.

“Hundreds more children remain severely injured, and many wait for an end to the violence promised by the accord.”

Israel’s double‑tap attacks have been employed throughout the war, most controversially because the second burst frequently strikes first responders instead of the primary target.

Notably, in August 2025 a repeating strike on a section of Nasser Hospital caused a death toll of twenty, including health workers and six journalists—one of whom was Al Jazeera photographer Mohammad Salama.

Independent investigations by +972 Magazine and Local Call, drawing on testimony from security sources and eyewitnesses, uncovered that the double‑tap methodology was introduced to improve the likelihood of eliminating a target, typically when air strikes proved imprecise or the enemy presence was unconfirmed.

The Health Ministry cautioned that Gaza’s medical infrastructure is on the brink of collapse due to tight restrictions on fuel and medical imports, echoing pleas from the UN Security Council, WHO, and OCHA.

Concurrently, Gaza’s Civil Defence issued an urgent request to the international community regarding brutal attacks, highlighting the recent collapse of a building in Gaza City that claimed at least twenty lives, including women and children.

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