Hannibal orders "tactically" issued, Yoav Gallant admits.

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.

  • @yesmanEnglish
    41•13 hours ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      23•8 hours ago

      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”.

      • @cheese_greaterEnglish
        4•3 hours ago

        How very Ruzzian of them 🙂‍↔️Almost like fascists are working off the same common script