WATCH: This Is How Israel Warns Palestinian Civilians to Evacuate Buildings Before They’re Bombed

Throughout the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has bent over backwards to avoid civilian casualties or any acts of impropriety, while Palestinian terrorists explicitly target civilians. Even Slate says,”Israel, unlike Hamas, isn’t trying to kill civilians. It’s taking pains to spare them.” Hamas knows this and so they launch missiles from residential areas, schools, hospitals and even mosques.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it well: “Here’s the difference between us: We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”

One of the ways Israel attempts to thread the needle between needing to take out its enemy’s infrastructure and sparing as many innocent lives as possible is known as “roof knocking” — where a flare or small explosive knocks on the roof of a building as a warning before the real bomb is dropped.

The warning strikes, therefore, are hailed as a humane way to allow civilians escape with their lives, used by Israel as a means to avoid so-called collateral damage. The warnings give just enough time for able-bodied people to escape, but not enough that they could, in theory, dismantle any apparatus or resources they were hiding in the property. For the civilian occupants, if they do manage to get out safely before the bombs strike, they will be spared death, but become instantly homeless, with most of their worldly possessions destroyed. That’s the price you pay, say the Israeli Defence Forces, for collusion with a force that lobs indiscriminate rocket attacks at Israel.

H/T: Vocativ

Watch this explosive video to see how roof knocking works in action:

 

Alexa is a freelance writer and communications consultant, with experience working on the Hill, at the RNC, and for... More about Alexa

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