Did Israel employ the Hannibal directive on 7 Oct, resulting in the death of hundreds of their own people?
What is Israel’s Hannibal Directive?
The Hannibal Directive was named after the Carthaginian leader who took poison rather than be captured by the enemy. It was introduced in 1986, after a number of abductions of IDF soldiers in Lebanon and subsequent controversial prisoner exchanges.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Directive:
According to statements by several Israeli officials, the aim of the directive is to prevent the capture of an IDF soldier by enemy forces, even by risking the soldier’s life or the lives of scores of non-Israeli civilians
According to the directive, once it had been declared by a field officer, Israeli forces were to open fire on enemy forces carrying away an IDF prisoner. Vehicles suspected of removing such a prisoner from the battlefield could thus be attacked, even at the risk of harming, or even killing, the abductee himself. According to some interpretations, this includes even firing missiles from attack helicopters or firing tank shells at suspected escaping vehicles
In short, it authorises Israeli commanders to kill their own soldiers — and any number of civilians — to prevent prisoner swaps from taking place.
How the Hannibal Directive was used in the past
In 2011, Hamas agreed to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners. However, the backlash from the public and the political right was such that three years later, the Israeli government chose to employ the Hannibal Directive.
On August 1, 2014, Hamas fighters captured an Israeli officer, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin. The IDF responded with an intensive use of firepower by Israel, which lasted four days and killed at least 135 Palestinian civilians, injured many more and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and other civilian structures, mostly on 1 August.
This date became known as Black Friday in Southern Gaza.
source: https://blackfriday.amnesty.org/
How many Israeli civilians did the IDF kill on 7 Oct ?
The Israeli military released video footage from 7 October. However, the twisted, melted-metal remains of some of the vehicles suggests they were the result of more than the small-arms fire available to the Palestinians. Some military observers have stated that they seem more likely to come from airborne missiles, which is consistent with the IDF’s helicopter pilots who admitted that at first they shot at all the cars without knowing which were Hamas and which were civilians.
Elsewhere, in an interview in a Haaretz article, Israeli journalist Nir Hasson describes the ‘freeing’ of Kibbutz Be’eri:
Only on Monday night and only after the commanders in the field made difficult decisions — including shelling houses with all their occupants inside in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages — did the IDF complete the takeover of the kibbutz.
Yasmin Porat, a 44-year-old Israeli mother of three, said that she and other civilians had been held by the Palestinians for several hours and treated “humanely.” However, when Israeli forces engaged with Palestinian fighters in Kibbutz Be’eri, they fired indiscriminately at both the fighters and their Israeli prisoners. As she told Israeli radio:
“They eliminated everyone, including the hostages. There was very, very heavy crossfire” and even tank shelling.
A recording of her interview, from the radio program Haboker Hazeh (“This Morning”) hosted by Aryeh Golan on state broadcaster Kan, is available with English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cPeRSVgUpQ
IDF personnel interviewed by Keshet 12 News also indicate they were firing at anything, regardless of civilians:
Israel also had to later revise its Israeli deaths from 1400 to 1200 after finally realizing that 200 of the dead were Hamas. It supposedly took them time to identify the bodies because they were so badly burned — which suggests the victims were hit by less-than-precise ordnance. How many civilians were also killed as a result?
Is Israel really trying to release prisoners in Gaza?
Released Israeli hostage Yocheved Lifshitz described how she was treated by Hamas:
She said her captors seemed prepared for hostages and had clean rooms with mattresses on the ground. There was one guard for each of them and they ate together, but their captors did not want to discuss the “politics” of what had happened.
The hostages in her small group were treated well, she said, and received medication and regular visits from a doctor. She said she could not speak for the treatment of other groups of hostages, which were held in different locations by different captors.
(Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-ek-OpX5hc)
It would appear that Hamas planned the attack to accumulate hostages in order to trade for concessions. It is not in their interest to kill them in the short term.
However, Israel’s blanket bombardment of Gaza is killing indiscriminately, whether they be civilians, terrorists, or its own people.
Israeli families are increasingly angry over the “absolute uncertainty” they face over the fate of the captives, particularly in the heavy bombings. However, at a press conference alongside Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas had to be forced to the negotiating table:
“The more military pressure, the more firepower and the more we strike Hamas — the greater our chances are to bring it to a place where it will agree to a solution that will allow the return of your loved ones,” he said.
The IDF’s past track-record unfortunately does not bode well for either the hostages in Gaza nor the Palestinian civilians.
Update 23rd January 2024:
Two months on from the original post and the IDF has rescued 1 (yes, one) hostage. Meanwhile:
- 105 were released in the ceasefire
- 3 were shot by the IDF
- 3 were poison-gassed by the IDF
- 20+ more killed in bombing or attempts to rescue them
Dropping 2000lb bombs indiscriminately in densely urban areas was invariably going to be not in the hostages best interests.
Sources:
Latest hostage figures:
