‘Roof knocking‘ or knocking on the roof is the tactic Israel uses when bombing Gaza. A demand from Hamas, which threatens kill hostagesand broadcast it on the internet if Israel does not warn before each attack.

It consists precisely of giving a warning with low-performance ammunition or even without explosives, or directly with a call or message, so that civilians have the possibility of fleeing, even if it is minimal, to where they can.

But the truth is that on many occasions not even a ten-minute margin is respected so that the population could flee before the bombing and the destruction of buildings. Therefore, for the UN it has never been an effective means of warning but rather an action contrary to international law.

Security expert Jesús A. Núñez Villaverde explains that no matter how much Israel warns, the collateral effects are immediate since we are talking about an agglomeration of people that in some places is 6,000 or 7,000 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Now, the Israeli government says it will skip it when it considers it and argues that it is already massively evacuating Gaza’s population from terrorist zones that are going to be attacked. But experts suggest that he would be resuming these warnings after threats from Hamas.