Report: Israeli army applied Hannibal directive during October 7 Hamas attack | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

The directive is a controversial policy of the Israeli military designed to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers.

According to an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, on October 7 last year the Israeli army issued the Hannibal Directive – a controversial Israeli military policy designed to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces at all costs.

In a report on Sunday, based on statements by Israeli soldiers and senior army officers, the newspaper said that during Hamas’ unprecedented attack last October, the Israeli army began making decisions based on limited and unconfirmed information, issuing an order that “not a single vehicle should be allowed to return to Gaza.”

“At that time, the (Israeli army) was not aware of the scale of the kidnappings along the Gaza border, but they knew that many people were involved. Therefore, it was perfectly clear what this message meant and what the fate of some of the kidnapped people would be,” the report said.

On October 7, Hamas captured dozens of Israelis, many of whom are still in captivity or were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to the Palestinian armed group. However, many of the prisoners were civilians, not soldiers, to whom the Hannibal Directive does not apply.

The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks is estimated at 1,139, while nearly 250 others have been captured, Israeli authorities say. Meanwhile, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to an Al Jazeera count based on official statistics.

While Haaertz said it was not known how many soldiers and civilians were hit by the military crackdown at Hannibal, he added: “The data collected suggests that many of the abducted people were in danger and exposed to Israeli fire, even if they were not the target.”

The report states that the Hannibal Protocol was “applied in three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas” and “it failed to prevent the kidnapping of seven of these soldiers or the killing of 15 other scouts and 38 other soldiers.”

What is the Hannibal Directive?

The Hannibal Directive, also known as the Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, is an Israeli military policy that calls for the use of maximum force in the event of a soldier being kidnapped, Yehuda Shaul, a former Israeli army soldier, told Al Jazeera in November last year.

“They will open fire without restriction to prevent the kidnapping,” he said, adding that violence would be used even at the risk of killing a captured soldier.

The soldiers are allowed to shoot not only at the kidnappers, but also at intersections, streets, highways and other routes through which the enemy could lead the kidnapped soldiers, Shaul added.

According to leaked military audio recordings, the last time Israel invoked the Hannibal Directive was in 2014 during its war against Gaza. However, the Israeli army denied that it had ever used the doctrine.

The ensuing Israeli bombardment killed dozens of Palestinians, leading to accusations of war crimes against the Israeli army.

The policy was presumably revoked in 2016, although it is unclear what led to its repeal. A report by Israel’s State Comptroller also recommended that the army scrap the policy because it received criticism and the army interpreted it in different ways, Haaretz reported.

According to Haaretz’s research, a senior Israeli army source also confirmed that the Hannibal procedure was “applied on October 7.” The source said investigations after the war would show who gave the order.

Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman told the newspaper that the army “has launched internal investigations into the events of October 7 and the period preceding it.”

“The aim of these investigations is to learn and draw lessons that can be used to continue the fight. When these investigations are completed, the results will be presented transparently to the public,” the spokesman said, according to the Israeli newspaper.