Report: IDF used protocol that potentially endangered civilian lives in Hamas attack | Israel-Gaza War

In the initial chaos of the Hamas attack on October 7, Israeli forces applied the so-called Hannibal Protocol, an instruction to use force to prevent the kidnapping of soldiers, even if it puts the lives of hostages at risk, according to a report.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Sunday, exactly nine months to the day after the attack in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were abducted into the Gaza Strip, that the same procedure had also been used on three army facilities attacked by Hamas, potentially endangering civilians.

Another message to the Israeli Gaza Division at 11:22 a.m., about five hours after the attack began, read: “Not a single vehicle is allowed to return to Gaza.”

A source in the southern command told the newspaper: “Everyone knew at the time that such vehicles could transport kidnapped civilians or soldiers… Everyone knew what it meant not to allow a single vehicle to return to Gaza.”

Haaretz said it was still unclear whether and how many civilians or soldiers were harmed by these orders. However, documents and testimonies from soldiers and middle and senior officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) indicated that the practice was used on a “large scale” on October 7, despite a lack of clear information and the IDF struggling to respond to the attack.

In response to the report, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said internal investigations into the events of October 7 and the period leading up to it were underway. “The aim of these investigations is to learn and draw lessons that can be used in the continuation of the fighting. When these investigations are completed, the results will be presented transparently to the public,” the statement said.

Haaretz’s investigation is the latest Israeli media coverage to shed light on failures in military intelligence and operational response surrounding the Hamas offensive, the deadliest single attack on Israeli soil since the founding of the state in 1948.

Israel’s subsequent campaign in Gaza has yet to achieve several of its stated objectives, leading to fears that the conflict is on the verge of turning into a sustained insurgency war. According to the local Health Ministry, Israeli operations in the Palestinian territory have killed more than 38,000 people and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million residents from their homes in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

Allegations first emerged in January that Israeli forces had used the Hannibal Protocol to prevent Hamas fighters from returning to Gaza with hostages. Although the directive has so far only been applied in relation to soldiers, a high-profile incident in Kibbutz Be’eri, in which a brigadier general ordered a tank to fire shells at a house containing Hamas fighters and 14 Israelis, killing 13 of the hostages, has raised questions about operational procedures that resulted in civilian casualties.

A UN investigation found last month that the Israeli military likely killed more than a dozen of its own citizens in the October 7 attack.

Also on Sunday, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that a sophisticated early warning system on the Gaza border developed by Unit 8200, part of the Israel Defense Forces’ military intelligence service, had not been properly maintained and was experiencing frequent malfunctions. A dossier submitted by Unit 8200 officers before Oct. 7 contained detailed information on Hamas’s sophisticated invasion plans, including raids on Israeli towns and military bases, hostage-taking and possible consequences, the report said.

In November, members of the all-female “scout unit” stationed at two points along the Gaza Strip said they had tried several times to warn their superiors about unusual activity along the border fence before the Hamas attack, but were ignored. On October 7, 15 scouts were killed and six others taken hostage.