The infamous Hannibal Directive, which forbade enemy troops from capturing Israeli soldiers at all costs, was issued by the Israeli army on October 7 of last year, according to an investigation conducted by the Israeli daily Haaretz.
According to Al Jazeera, the newspaper said in a report on Sunday that during Hamas’s unprecedented attack last October, the Israeli army began making decisions based on incomplete and unverified information and issued an order that “not a single vehicle can return to Gaza.”
The report was based on the testimonies of Israeli soldiers and senior army officers.”At this point, the Israeli army knew that many people were participating in kidnapping along the Gaza border, but it was unaware of the scale of the practice.
As a result, the meaning of that communication and the future of some of the kidnapped individuals were crystal evident, the report stated.
The Palestinian armed group claims that on October 7, Hamas captured dozens of Israelis, many of whom are either still in captivity or have died as a result of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
Nonetheless, the Hannibal Directive did not apply to many of those taken prisoner because they were civilians rather than troops.
It is estimated that 1,139 people have died in Israel as a result of the attacks spearheaded by Hamas, and approximately 250 more have been taken prisoner, according to Israeli officials.
Meanwhile, an Al Jazeera count based on official figures shows that since October 7, more than 38,000 Palestinians have lost their lives as a result of Israeli bombardment on Gaza.
Haaertz stated that “the cumulative data indicates that many of the kidnapped people were at risk, exposed to Israeli gunfire, even if they were not the target,” even if it was unsure of the exact number of troops and civilians injured as a result of the Hannibal military action.
According to the report, the Hannibal protocol was implemented at three army locations that were compromised by Hamas.
However, it was not successful in stopping the kidnapping of seven troops and the deaths of fifteen further spotters and 38 other soldiers.
Yehuda Shaul, a former Israeli army soldier, told Al Jazeera in November of last year that the Israeli military has a policy known as the Hannibal Directive, also called the Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, which requires the employment of maximal force in the event of a soldier being kidnapped.
He declared, “You will open fire without limitations, in order to prevent the abduction,” adding that the use of force is done so even if doing so puts a captured soldier’s life in danger.
According to Shaul, soldiers have the ability to fire not only at the kidnappers but also at intersections, roads, highways, and other areas where adversaries would lead a kidnapped soldier.
Leaked military audio recordings from 2014 show that Israel last utilised the Hannibal Directive during its war on Gaza; however, the Israeli army denied using the concept at that time….Discover _ More
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