As some of you may have read, I have previously shared a selection of some of the excellent investigative journalism work of The Grayzone, Electronic Intifada, The Cradle, Mint Press, Mondoweiss and others that reported last autumn following October 7th that the available evidence indicated the Israeli military had invoked their Hannibal Directive.
Please note that this post is far too long to be read in its entirety by email. As such, please click on the title to see the complete blog with videos on Substack. Thank you.
As the poster above for Al Jazeera’s 2015 film, The Hannibal Directive alludes to, it is a military operation in which Israeli forces activate the modus operandi that it is better to have a dead soldier than a live captive one which, in the case of October 7th and other military operations, could be used for a prisoner exchange. These sort of exchanges are something which the Israeli Military avoids at all costs by killing their own soldiers and civilians.
The following is the description for the very good Al Jazeera film which explains the origins and use of the Hannibal Directive, including in Israel’s heinous 2014 war against Palestinians which they named Operation Protective Edge.
The Hannibal Directive was a top-secret military order used by the Israeli army.
First devised in 1986 by three senior army commanders, it stipulated measures to be taken when an Israeli soldier was captured during combat. Its purpose was to prevent the enemy from escaping with that soldier, even if it meant endangering the soldier's life and the lives of civilians in the vicinity.
The order was last executed during the 2014 Gaza War - known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge. During that conflict, more than 2,000 Palestinians and 72 Israelis were killed.
On Friday August 1, 2014, at Rafah in the south of Gaza, the Israeli Army invoked the Hannibal Directive to try to stop Hamas fighters from fleeing with a captured Israeli officer.
The unprecedented ferocity of the action that followed cost the lives of [at] least 135 civilians - 75 of them children. Amnesty International and other NGOs have described the events of that day, "Black Friday", as a war crime.
This film, by award-winning director Benny Brunner, explores the secret history of the Hannibal Directive - tracing its origins, its most recent use and how it has been applied.
The documentary was made in 2015 amid mounting controversy about the application and morality of the doctrine - a dispute which eventually led to the order being quietly rescinded by the Israeli military in June 2016. It contains interviews with former Israeli soldiers, reservists and civilians who were at the time increasingly divided over whether such a brutal policy, which led to the deaths of so many innocent civilians, could ever be justified.
Please watch this powerful film which includes testimonials from various Israeli military personnel, soldiers and journalists of how and why the Hannibal Directive became policy which is still being implemented.
The Harretz article confirms that although the Israeli Military had allegedly previously been rescinded the use of the Hannibal Directive, there isn’t any doubt that they invoked it in full force on October 7, 2023.
I am reposting the Haaretz article below in full so that it is archived for possible future reference.
Gaza Division operations and airstrikes in the first hours of October 7 were based on limited information. The first long moments after the Hamas attack was launched were chaotic. Reports were coming in, with their significance not always clear. When their meaning was understood, it was realized that something horrific had taken place.
Communication networks could not keep up with the flow of information, as was the case for soldiers sending these reports. However, the message conveyed at 11:22 A.M. across the Gaza Division network was understood by everyone. "Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza" was the order.
At this point, the IDF was not aware of the extent of kidnapping along the Gaza border, but it did know that many people were involved. Thus, it was entirely clear what that message meant, and what the fate of some of the kidnapped people would be.
This was not the first order given by the division with the intent of foiling kidnapping even at the expense of the lives of the kidnapped, a procedure known in the army as the "Hannibal procedure."
“Hamas terrorists breach the Israel-Gaza border on the morning of October7.”
Credit: Hani Alshaer/Anadolu Agency via Reuters Connect
Documents obtained by Haaretz, as well as testimonies of soldiers, mid-level and senior IDF officers, reveal a host of orders and procedures laid down by the Gaza Division, Southern Command and the IDF General Staff up to the afternoon hours of that day, showing how widespread this procedure was, from the first hours following the attack and at various points along the border.
Haaretz does not know whether or how many civilians and soldiers were hit due to these procedures, but the cumulative data indicates that many of the kidnapped people were at risk, exposed to Israeli gunfire, even if they were not the target.
At 6:43 A.M., at which time rocket barrages were launched at Israel and thousands of Hamas operatives were attacking army strongholds and the division's observation and communications capabilities, the division's commander Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld declared that "the Philistines have invaded."
This is the procedure when an enemy invades Israeli territory, upon which a division commander can assume extraordinary authority, including the employment of heavy fire inside Israeli territory, in order to block an enemy raid.
A very senior IDF source confirmed to Haaretz that the Hannibal procedure was employed on October 7, adding that this was not used by the divisional commander. Who did give the order? This, said the source, will perhaps be established by post-war investigations.
In any case, says a defense official who is familiar with the October 7 operations at the Gaza Division, in the morning hours "no one knew what was going on outside." He says that Rosenfeld was in the war room, not emerging, "while outside a world war was raging."
“Hamas terrorists driving to the Erez crossing in southern Israel on the morning of October 7.”
Credit: Mohammed ABED / AFP
"Everyone was shocked by the number of terrorists who had penetrated the base. Even in our nightmares, we didn't have plans for such an attack. No one had a clue about the number of people kidnapped or where army forces were. There was crazy hysteria, with decisions made without any verified information," he continued.
One of these decisions was made at 7:18 A.M., when an observation post at the Yiftah outpost reported that someone had been kidnapped at the Erez border crossing, adjacent to the IDF's liaison office. "Hannibal at Erez" came the command from divisional headquarters, "dispatch a Zik." The Zik is an unmanned assault drone, and the meaning of this command was clear.
This wasn't the last time that such an order was heard over the communications network. Over the next half hour, the division realized that Hamas terrorists had managed to kill and abduct soldiers serving at the crossing and at the adjacent base. Then, at 7:41 A.M., it happened again: Hannibal at Erez, an assault on the crossing and the base, just so that no more soldiers be taken. Such commands were given later as well.
The Erez border crossing was not the only place this happened. Information obtained by Haaretz and confirmed by the army shows that throughout that morning, the Hannibal procedure was employed at two other locations penetrated by terrorists: the Re'im army base, where the divisional headquarters were located, and the Nahal Oz outpost in which female spotters were based. This did not prevent the kidnapping of seven of them or the killing of 15 other spotters, as well as 38 other soldiers.
Over the next few hours, division headquarters started putting the pieces of the puzzle together, realizing the extent of the Hamas attack, but missing the invasion of Kibbutz Nir Oz, which the first army forces reached only after the terrorists had left. Regarding the frequency of employing the Hannibal procedure, it seems that nothing changed. Thus, for example, at 10:19 A.M. a report reached divisional headquarters indicating that a Zik had attacked the Re'im base.
Three minutes later, another such report arrived. At that time, Shaldag commando forces were already on the base fighting the terrorists. To this day, it's not clear whether one of them was hurt in the drone attack. What is known is that over the communications network there was a message asking everyone to make sure no soldier was outdoors on the base, since IDF forces were about to enter and drive out or kill remaining terrorists.
Vehicles in the parking lot of the Nova music festival, two days after Hamas attack.
Credit: SOUTH FIRST RESPONDERS / AFP
The decision to conduct attacks inside outposts, says a senior defense official, will haunt senior commanders all their lives. "Anyone making such a decision knew that our combatants in the area could be hit as well."
But such attacks took place, it turns out, not only inside outposts or bases. At 10:32 A.M., a new order was issued, according to which all battalions in the area were ordered to fire mortars in the direction of the Gaza Strip. Internal discussions in the army noted that this order, attributed to Brig. Gen. Rosenfeld, was heavily criticized, since at that time, the IDF did not have a complete picture of all the forces in the area, including soldiers and civilians. Some of these were in open areas or in woods along the border, trying to hide from the terrorists.
At that point, the army did not know the number of people who had been kidnapped. "We thought they numbered dozens at that stage," a military source told Haaretz. Firing mortars at the Gaza Strip would endanger them as well. Furthermore, another order given at 11:22 A.M., according to which no vehicle would be allowed to return to Gaza, took this a step further.
"Everyone knew by then that such vehicles could be carrying kidnapped civilians or soldiers," a source in Southern Command told Haaretz. "There was no case in which a vehicle carrying kidnapped people was knowingly attacked, but you couldn't really know if there were any such people in a vehicle. I can't say there was a clear instruction, but everyone knew what it meant to not let any vehicles return to Gaza."
A new development occurred at 2:00 P.M. All the forces were instructed not to exit border communities toward the west, in the direction of the border, with an emphasis on not chasing terrorists. At that point, the border area was under intense fire, directed at anyone in that area, making it a danger zone.
"The instruction," says the source in Southern Command, "was meant to turn the area around the border fence into a killing zone, closing it off toward the west."
At 6:40 P.M., military intelligence believed that many terrorists were intending to flee together back to the Gaza Strip, in an organized manner. This was near Kibbutz Be'eri, Kfar Azza and Kissufim. Following this, the army launched artillery raids at the border fence area, very close to some of these communities. Shortly afterwards, shells were fired at the Erez border crossing. The IDF says it is not aware of any civilians being hurt in these bombardments.
Palestinians taking a hostage from Israel into Gaza.Credit: Hatem Ali/AP
Unrestricted fire
One case in which it is known that civilians were hit, a case that received wide coverage, took place in the house of Pessi Cohen at Kibbutz Be'eri. 14 hostages were held in the house as the IDF attacked it, with 13 of them killed. In the coming weeks, the IDF is expected to publish the results of its investigation of the incident, which will answer the question of whether Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of Division 99 who was in charge of operations in Be'eri on October 7, was employing the Hannibal procedure. Did he order the tank to move ahead even at the cost of civilian casualties, as he stated in an interview he gave later to the New York Times?
Over all the months that have passed, the IDF has refused to say whether this procedure was employed against civilians who had been taken hostage. It now seems that even if the answer is positive, the question may have been only a partial one. The actions of Hiram may have simply been congruent with the way the IDF operated that day.
The home of Pessi Cohen in Kibbutz Be'eri, last month.Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz
As far as Haaretz knows, even at 9:33 P.M. this was still the situation on the ground. At that time, there was a further order from Southern Command: close off all the border area with tanks. In fact, all forces in the area received permission to open fire at anyone approaching the border area, without any restrictions.
The IDF spokesman responded by saying that "the army has been fighting for six months at high intensity on several fronts, focused on attaining the war's objectives. In tandem, the IDF has begun conducting internal investigations of what transpired on October 7 and the preceding period. The aim of these investigations is to learn and to draw lessons which could be used in continuing the battle. When these investigations are concluded, the results will be presented to the public with transparency."
Please read The Cradle’s report,Israeli Apache helicopters killed own soldiers, civilians on 7 October – New footage corroborates previous reports that say the Israeli military is responsible for many of the Israeli casualties during the first day of Operation Al-Aqsa Floodpublished 9 November 2023.
(Photo Credit: X)
I also recommend reading the subsequent report published by The Cradle on November 19, 2023, Israel admits it killed its own at Nova music festival – A police investigation shows Israeli Apache helicopters opened fire on attendees of the Nova music festival during the 7 October Hamas attack
The photograph above and the one below, which The Cradle published with their November 19th article provides undeniable evidence that most of the deaths and extensive damage incurred on October 7th could only have been done by American supplied Apache helicopters used by the Israeli military.
Hamas with their repurposed and modified old weapons does not have the military capability to have possibly caused such death and destruction.
October 7th was a mass “friendly fire” event at the hands of Israeli military.
Burnt cars are abandoned in a carpark near where a music festival was held before an attack by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, in southern Israel, October 10. (Photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
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I apologise for the length of this post but feel it’s appropriate to also include the recent interviews Judge Napolitano did with Aaron Maté and Max Blumenthal of The Grayzone who were amongst the Israeli lobby’s prime targets for discussing and providing evidence for the invocation of the Hannibal Directive on October 7th, 2023.
Please watch, Aaron Maté : Whitewashing Mass Murder:
Did Israel's military really sacrifice its own citizens to prevent Hamas from taking captives? Join us as we uncover the shocking revelations from the Haaretz report on Israel's controversial Hannibal Directive. Aaron Maté shares his intense confrontation with a former IDF spokesperson on Piers Morgan's show, exposing the deep moral contradictions within the Israeli military's actions. We also explore the broader implications for Israeli society and Prime Minister Netanyahu's silence in this critical moment.
In Max Blumenthal’s subsequent interview with Judge Napolitano, he provides more background information about Israel’s Hannibal Directive along with a few more details about IDF spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, who so rudely kept interrupting Aaron during the panel discussion on Piers Morgan’s talk show, which also included an Israeli Settler from Russia.
I haven’t yet had the stomach to watch Zionist Piers Morgan’s “debate” about the Hannibal Directive which included Aaron, but may post it separately later. I absolutely loathe the load mouth Piers Morgan and usually give him and his talk show a wide berth.
Below are links to a sample of articles by independent journalists which I previously reposted following October 7th. All of the authors received a lot of backlash and ridicule when they wrote and spoke about the likelihood of the Israeli military’s invocation of the Hannibal Directive on October 7, 2023.
This reality was of course vehemently also denied by Israeli Military personnel and politicians at the time. It still is by many, including the propaganda parrots operating in the controlled mainstream media.
