Israeli troops were ordered to shoot and kill captive Israeli civilians on 7 October 2023, Israel’s then defence minister admitted this week. The order to carry out Israel’s so-called Hannibal Directive was issued “tactically” and “in various places” next to Gaza, Yoav Gallant told Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday. “In other places it was not given, and that is a problem,” he continued.
Contrary to Gallant’s statement that the Hannibal Directive was unevenly applied in different areas, Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported in January 2024 that at midday on 7 October, an unambiguous order was given from the high command of the Israeli military to invoke the Hannibal Directive across the entire region.
In July, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the order “not a single vehicle can return to Gaza” was issued to the Gaza Division of the Israeli military at 11:22 am that day. But Gallant’s new statement is highly significant, as the first public admission by a contemporary Israeli minister that their troops were ordered to fire on their own people on 7 October.
Fuck the Israeli government, I’m sure this policy has nothing to do with mercy nor information, however, it is not an uncommon tactic when captivity likely includes interrogation and/or torture.
Hamas has always been pretty good to their captives. As recently proven once again recently by none of the captives saying they were tortured.
If any Israelis were tortured we would be guaranteed to read the stories on the front page of every big newspaper. Unlike the Palestinians whose actual torture gets completely buried by the news.
It’s not like IDF soldiers hold much special knowledge. They simply become pawns to be traded for Palestinian prisoners.
How many Israeli deaths lay at the feet of the IDF due to this directive?
How many Palestinian deaths happened because the Israeli citizens killed under the Hannibal Directive were used as justification for attacking Palestinians?
Yet another Israeli war crime…
The cost of even maintaining the metadata about Israeli crimes must be enormous.
At first, I assumed that the IDF had ROE that allowed them to attack a vehicle or position regardless of hostage presence. But NO, they were targeting the hostages!
This is stunning. I’m going to have to think on this.
EDIT: I don’t want to think on this anymore. This isn’t triggering, it’s a goddamn info-hazard.
That is where the term “Hannibal directive” comes from. It was invented after the IDF had to fork over a ton of Palestinian captives in exchange for captured IDF soldiers.
Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, is the name of a controversial procedure used by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces. According to one version, it says that "the kidnapping must be stopped by all means, even at the price of striking and harming our own forces.
What is even more dystopian is how the IDF uses a contradiction to describe the protocol: “rescuing their own soldier, even if it means shooting them”.
How very Ruzzian of them 🙂↔️Almost like fascists are working off the same common script
It’s been nothing short of disgusting the last year and half. Everyone who has been enabling this to escalate is nothing short of evil
You won’t catch me losing sleep over IDF soldiers hard canceling others IDF soldiers but civs and hostages is just fucking sick and unhuman.
