The Israeli military ordered the Hannibal Directive – a controversial Israeli military policy aimed at preventing the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces at all costs – on October 7 last year, an investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed.
In a report on Sunday, the newspaper, based on testimonies from Israeli soldiers and senior army officers, said that during the unprecedented Hamas attack last October, the Israeli military began making decisions with limited and unverified information, and issued an order that “no vehicle can return to Gaza.”
“At this point, the [Israeli army] “The Israeli Foreign Ministry was not aware of the scale of the kidnappings on the Gaza border, but it was aware that many people were involved. It was therefore 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 remain in captivity or have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to the Palestinian armed group. But many of those captured were civilians and not soldiers, to whom the Hannibal Directive does not apply.
According to Israeli authorities, the death toll in Hamas-led attacks in Israel stands at 1,139, while another 250 were taken prisoner. Meanwhile, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official statistics.
While Haaertz said it was not aware of how many soldiers and civilians were hit due to the Hannibal military procedure, it added that “accumulated data indicates that many of the abducted people were at risk, exposed to Israeli fire, even if they were not the target.”
The report states that the Hannibal protocol “was used in three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas” and “this did not prevent the kidnapping of seven of them.” [soldiers] or the murder of another 15 observers, as well as another 38 soldiers.”
What is the Hannibal Directive?
The Hannibal Directive, also known as the Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, is an Israeli military policy that stipulates 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.
“You will open fire without restraint to prevent the kidnapping,” he said, adding that the use of force is carried out even at the risk of killing a captive soldier.
In addition to shooting kidnappers, soldiers can fire at junctions, roads, highways and other paths where opponents might take a kidnapped soldier, Shaul added.
Israel last invoked the Hannibal Directive in 2014 during its war in Gaza that year, according to leaked military audio recordings, although the Israeli military denied using the doctrine.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the ensuing Israeli bombardment, prompting accusations of war crimes against the Israeli military.
The directive is believed to have been revoked in 2016, though it is unclear what led to its repeal. A report by Israel's state comptroller also recommended the military abolish the directive due to criticism of it as well as various interpretations of it in the military, according to Haaretz.
According to Haaretz's investigation, a high-ranking source in the Israeli military also confirmed that the Hannibal procedure “was employed on October 7.” The source said that post-war investigations will reveal who gave the order.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman told the paper that the military “has begun conducting internal investigations into what happened on October 7 and the period before.”
“The aim of these investigations is to learn and draw lessons that can be used to continue the battle. When these investigations are concluded, the results will be presented to the public in a transparent manner,” the spokesman said, according to the Israeli newspaper.
