Footage coming out of the Gaza strip today shows a shop keeper driving his donkey towards the impact site of an incoming airstrike. You know that everyone in the area knew that the airstrike was coming because they had propped up a camera directly aimed in the direction of where the strike occurred, but no one thought to take a peak out their window to yell at the guy driving his donkey directly towards it.

Fortunately, it appears as if the man and his donkey survived the airstrike. His clothing may now be permanently stained brown, and the Donkey will probably never be obedient again, but at least both parties are still alive to complain about it after the fact.

For the one percent of you who are out of the loop, Israel seems to have returned to doing roof knocks in Gaza prior to conducting an airstrike. How this works is they drop an inert round on the roof of their next target, giving everyone in the area advanced warning that they're about to destroy something that is being used by Hamas or the PIJ to support attacks against Israeli troops or Israel itself. You always know when this is the case because all of the civilians in the area of the strike prop up their cameras or film the exact area where the airstrike is about to occur from behind cover.

It creates an odd mix between filming a controlled detonation and randomly catching an airstrike on camera. A lot of the times, this footage is then repurposed and published by anti-Israeli sources as strikes on civilians, but rarely do civilian casualties occur in these instances.

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