This article aims to address the practice of using a 'knock on the roof' as a warning before airstrikes are launched in order to mitigate civilian casualties during armed conflict. It involves the dropping of non-explosive or low-impact type of munitions on the intended target. This 'knock' is reportedly accompanied by other specific warnings, such as telephone calls and text-messages, indicating that the attack on the building is imminent. The knock is intended to be used on a legitimate military objective, leaving no doubt that the attack is in fact about to happen, and urging civilians to relocate to a safer place. This article aims to analyse whether, and if so, under which circumstances, the knock on the roof practice may be used within the boundaries of IHL, both as a warning and as a method of warfare.

Professor Gill worked in both institutions we represent, namely the Netherlands Defence Academy (NLDA) and the University of Amsterdam, until his retirement and transition to emeritus professor, respectively. Terry Gill played an important role for our institutions as the dual-hatted professor for Military Law. On 1 September 2001, Terry took up his chair at the University of Amsterdam. As of 2005, he combined this with the newly set-up chair for Military Law at the Netherlands Defence Academy, gradually reducing his tenure at his alma mater, Utrecht University, until he divided his time equally between our institutions.In the meantime, academic teaching and research in the field of military law burgeoned as the world caught fire. The 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered the United States to wage the so-called 'Global War on Terror'. Besides being the first invocation of the collective self-defence mechanism pursuant to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, Operation Enduring Freedom (the military operation against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan) initiated academic and political debate about many of the topics within Terry's expertise, such as self-defence, the applicability of the Geneva Convention to (and the treatment of) unprivileged belligerents (in Guantanamo Bay), and the territorial scope of conflict (e.g. Pakistan and Somalia).The subsequent, highly controversial Operation Iraqi Freedom (the military operation against Iraq), generated both military and legal issues, ranging from jus ad bellum, jus in bello (e.g. the detainee abuse in Abu Ghraib) and the application of human rights law (e.g. the Al Jedda case before the European Court of Human Rights). As a professor at our institutions, Terry Gill has published important, and often-cited articles on all of the aforementioned issues.The above developments, also produced newor a return of oldmilitary strategies, such as counterinsurgency operations, which generate thorny legal questions to be answered by commanding officers supported by legal advisors.

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