By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Israel killed many of their own people under the Hannibal Directive on October 7, the Israeli media outlet Haaretz admitted Sunday after eight months of cover-ups and disinformation.
From Haaretz, “IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive”:
… [T]he 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.”
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.
All Israeli media outlets need to run their reports past IDF censors before publication — so this is effectively the Israeli government giving the go-ahead to admit they killed their own people on October 7.
The war on Gaza is winding down and they’re prepping for war with Hezbollah now so the atrocity propaganda they spread blaming Hamas for the killings the IDF committed with Apache helicopters and tanks is no longer needed.
All the caveats Haaretz included to “soften the blow” will likely be admitted to be lies in due time as well.
Al Jazeera’s documentary “October 7” had a good rundown of the evidence the Hannibal Directive was used and I wrote a bunch of stories about it in the archives going all the way back to October 16.
Yesterday’s “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory” is today’s admitted fact.