Videos like the on above are evidence of Israeli roof knocking. Roof knocking is a technique that they started to reduce civilian casualties from air and drone strikes against Hamas and PIJ infrastructure that they needed to destroy from a distance. You can always tell when a building has been roof-knocked, because there will be several videos of the strike published to the internet, where the camera person was essentially anticipating the exact location of the strike.

Roof knocking is a double edged sword for Israeli forces. On the one hand, it does effectively prevent civilian casualties by giving everyone in the immediate area warning that a strike is about to occur. The tactic is done by dropping an inert explosive round on the target, creating a loud noise that lets everyone in the vicinity know a strike is about to occur on a specific target.

The problem with the tactic however is two fold. One, it prevents the strikes from destroying any hostile individuals in the area as they have ample warning to escape the attack. Two, it enables every Palestinian civilian and news agency in the area to film the strike and pose it as whatever they want across all social media platforms.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com