Israel did not officially recognize the implementation of the ‘Hannibal Directive’ on October 7. However, several investigations shed light on the events of that day.
Former Labor party leader Shelly Yachimovich called on Sunday for an investigation into the Israeli army’s implementation of the ‘Hannibal Directive’ in Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip on October 7, Al-Jazeera reported.
‘Hannibal Directive’ is the name of a controversial procedure used by the Israeli army to prevent, at any cost the capture of soldiers by enemy forces.
“There is a violent campaign to prevent any investigation/talk” about Israeli Brigadier General Barak Hiram “knowingly killing 12 hostages, including children” in a house in Be’eri,” Yachimovich wrote on her X platform.
“The reason?” she rhetorically wondered in her tweet, adding: “Hiram is ‘the hero of Israel’. The heroes of Israel protect the children of Israel, not kill them.”
The former Labor leader attributes the incident to the implementation of the Hannibal directive, sarcastically noting, “Hannibal turned over in his grave.”
יש קמפיין אלים למניעת כל חקירה/דיבור על הארוע מהגיהנום שבו פקד תא״ל חירם לירות בטנק ולהסתער על הבית בבארי, ולהרוג ביודעין 12 בני ערובה, לרבות ילדים. חניבעל התהפך בקברו.
הנימוק? חירם הוא ״גיבור ישראל״. גיבורי ישראל מגינים על ילדי ישראל, לא הורגים אותם. מי אני שאשפוט? מי הוא שיהרוג— שלי יחימוביץ (@Syechimovich) December 24, 2023
Israel did not officially recognize the implementation of the ‘Hannibal Directive’ on October 7. However, several investigations shed light on the events of that day.
According to testimonies by Israeli settlers in the Israel-Gaza border region, the Israeli military had killed many of its own citizens as if to prevent the Resistance from taking them as hostages.
These reports even made their way to the Israeli media.
Yasmin Porat, a survivor from the Kibbutz Be’eri, near the fence separating Gaza from Israel, said in an interview with Israeli Radio that Israeli forces “undoubtedly” killed a large number of Israeli civilians following the Hamas operation on October 7.
“They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she told Israeli radio. “There was very, very heavy crossfire and even tank shelling.”
In an article published by Uncaptured Media on December 10, American journalist and filmmaker Dan Cohen also describes the events at kibbutz Be’eri as an “apparent implementation of the Hannibal Directive”.
‘Hannibal’: Is Israel Killing Its Own Captives in Gaza? – ANALYSIS
Cohen cited an interview published by Israel’s Channel 12 and “delivered by the sole survivor from the massacre inside one house, Hadas Dagan, a resident of Be’eri who had previously maintained her silence.”
“Two months after the events of October 7, shocking new testimony reveals that the Israeli military, using an arsenal of gunfire, tank shelling and guided LAU missiles, killed almost certainly all but one of the 14 hostages held in a house in kibbutz Be’eri – along with their Hamas captors,” Cohen wrote.
Suspects around the implementation of the ‘Hannibal Directive’ by the Israeli army were also raised by other Israeli analysts, including Israeli journalist Noa Limone.
“Was the Hannibal Directive applied to civilians?” she wondered in an article published in Haaretz on December 13, adding that “an investigation and public debate need to happen now, no matter how difficult they are.”
(PC, AJA)
