The Hannibal Directive and the Murder of the Three Israeli Hostages in Gaza City on 15th December 2023
The murder of three Israeli hostages formerly held by Hamas and released on 15th December 2023 by IDF soldiers in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood has once again shown the cynical way that the Israeli government views its own citizens and will happily try to lie its way out of public relations disasters.
Recent examples have been the attempt to credit Hamas with murdering all the Israeli civilians at the Nova music festival in southern Israel but as it turns out a significant number of deaths can actually be attributed to an Israeli helicopter gunship mowing down its own people in the mistaken belief that they were Hamas fighters. (1)
Another example is the famous ‘decapitated babies’ (sometimes numbered at 40) of the Israeli settlement of Kfar Aza of which no evidence has been forthcoming and the number of babies and children killed (not ‘decapitated’ mind you) has been continually reduced even according to official estimates and now the ’40 babies’ has become just 2 babies. (2)
These actions among others have revived discussion of a confirmed – although ‘officially revoked’ – Israeli military doctrine called the ‘Hannibal Directive’ which in simple terms means that all IDF soldiers are directed to use any means necessary to recover hostages and/or the bodies of dead Israelis. This specifically included instructions that it was perfectly acceptable if believed necessary to kill the Israelis who were being held hostage in order to kill those holding them hostage. (3)
The epicentre of the Hannibal Directive was the IDF’s Southern Command and the Gaza Division which are the IDF elements that fired on and murdered the three Israeli hostages on 15th December 2023. (4)
I quote a leaked potion of the Hannibal Directive from 2014:
‘"A. During a kidnapping, the main task becomes to rescue our soldiers from the abductors, even at the cost of harming or injuring our soldiers.
B. If the abductors and the kidnapped are identified and the calls are not heeded, a firearm must be fired in order to bring the kidnappers to the ground, or arrest them.
D.(sic) If the vehicle or the hijackers do not stop, they should be fired at individually, intentionally, in order to hit the hijackers, even if it means harming our soldiers. (This section was accompanied by an asterisk comment emphasizing: "In any case, everything should be done to stop the vehicle and not allow it to escape").’ (5)
The Hannibal Directive was officially rescinded and replaced with three new separate directives came into force in January 2017 but which despite the claims the Hannibal Directive was ‘misunderstood’ for what we know of them sound like a reworded and rebranded version of the Hannibal Directive. (6)
Indeed the ‘new’ Hannibal Directive appears to be in force as much as ever since Israeli hostages freed from Hamas following the attacks on 7th October have officially testified that they were subject to attempts to murder (not rescue) them by the IDF in what sounds almost exactly like previous descriptions of the Hannibal Directive. (7)
If we apply what we know of the Hannibal Directive – and the fact that the two IDF units closely linked to it were involved and that we have separate evidence from Israelis that it is still being used - to the murder of the three Israeli hostages in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood on 15th December it becomes readily apparent that this is another instance – this time fatal – of the Hannibal Directive being applied by the IDF against Israeli military and civilian hostages.
To do so let’s look at the narrative being portrayed by Israeli media.
Vered Weiss writing in ‘World Israel News’ states:
‘When three escaped hostages approached IDF soldiers in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood Friday, they were shirtless and waving makeshift white flags, but the soldiers thought they were a Hamas trap, according to the IDF.
After days of heavy fighting in Shejaiya, including an incident on Wednesday in which nine soldiers including two commanders were killed, troops had seen very few civilians, the soldiers believed the three hostages were terrorists trying to trick them.
The incident began when a soldier from Bislamach Brigade’s 17th Battalion alerted commanders to three suspicious figures exiting a building.
They were shirtless and holding sticks with white fabric attached to them in an attempt to create a surrender flag.
When he came out of the building, he was shot and killed by another soldier.
The IDF stated that both the soldier who killed the two terrorist and the one who shot the third were acting against protocol.
However, the IDF also acknowledged that the conditions in which they were fighting—including a lack of civilians in the area and having no expectation of encountering escaped hostages, contributed to the situation that caused the tragic error.
The IDF has issued new protocols given the possibility of hostages escaping captivity, especially since the IDF has managed to destabilize Hamas control in the region.’ (8)
Compare this to the initial story from the ‘Jewish News Syndicate’:
‘The Israel Defense Forces mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as threats and killed them amid combat in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shuja’iyya, the Israeli military stated on Friday.
“During searches and checks in the area in which the incident occurred, a suspicion arose over the identities of the deceased,” the IDF stated. “Their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for examination, after which it was confirmed that they were three Israeli hostages.”’ (9)
Also compare it to Emanuel Fabian writing in ‘The Times of Israel’:
‘Israel Defense Force troops mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages in northern Gaza’s Shejaiya neighborhood as a threat and opened fire at them, killing them, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari announced Friday evening.
Hagari said the IDF bears full responsibility for the “tragic incident,” which took place on Friday morning, “in an area where the soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers.”
Hagari named the hostages as Yotam Haim, who was abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samar Fouad Talalka, who was abducted from Nir Am. The third hostage was later named as Alon Shamriz, also from Kfar Aza.
The incident occurred in the Gaza neighborhood that has seen some of the heaviest fighting in recent days.’ (10)
As well as the subsequent article Fabian wrote for ‘The Times of Israel’ a day later recounting the same events:
‘Three hostages shot dead by Israeli troops in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood Friday were shirtless, and one of them was carrying a stick with a makeshift white flag, the IDF said Saturday after an initial probe into the tragic incident.
Yotam Haim, Samar Talalka and Alon Lulu Shamriz managed to escape Hamas captivity before they were mistakenly shot dead by troops on Friday morning at around 10 a.m.
According to a senior officer in the Southern Command, citing an initial probe, the incident began after a soldier from Bislamach Brigade’s 17th Battalion stationed in a building identified three suspicious figures exiting a building several dozen meters away.
All three were shirtless, with one of the figures carrying a stick with a makeshift white flag, according to the investigation.
The soldier, who believed the men moving toward him was an attempt by Hamas to lure IDF soldiers into a trap, immediately opened fire and shouted “terrorists!” to the other forces.
According to the probe, that soldier killed two of the men, while the third man, who was hit and wounded, fled back into the building from which he came.
At that stage, the commander of the battalion, who was also in the multi-story building where the soldier had fired from, went outside and called on the forces to stop shooting.
Meanwhile, sounds of someone — apparently the third hostage — shouting “Help” in Hebrew were heard by troops in the area.
Moments later, the third man came out of the building to which he had fled, and another soldier opened fire at him, killing him.
The battalion commander then realized that the appearance of the third man was unusual, and he was revealed to be an Israeli hostage. The three bodies were taken to Israel for identification.
The soldier who opened fire upon identifying the three men did so against protocols, as did the soldier who killed the third man, according to the officer.’ (11)
Notice the change in language where they have gone from try to excuse the murder of the three released Israeli hostages as part of the fog of war with claims like ‘they thought they were suicide bombers’, ‘they had been in heavy combat’ and suggestions they only released after the fact that they were Israeli hostages not Palestinians.
To claiming these killings were ‘against orders’ and ‘against protocols’ because it has become clear that not only were these three hostages killed while completely unarmed, shirtless and waving a white flag but they were also clearly Israeli in appearance and didn’t look generally look Palestinians and they were also shouting in Israeli-accented Hebrew. Not only that the soldier responsible for identifying them as ‘terrorists’ was a trained sniper who would have known they weren’t armed and likely weren’t Palestinians given their features.
As the Israeli journalist Richard Silverstein explains:
‘This was not an “accident” or “mistake,” as the global media are reporting. This was at best negligent homicide. At worst, it was a catastrophe, both military and political. A grievous breach of discipline, training and leadership. It was a tragedy that never should have happened.
Ariel Bernstein denounced the IDF claim that the killings were contrary to the rules of engagement, in the tweet above. He wrote:
An absolute lie. I fought in Operation Protective Edge (2014). The orders were fire on sight. Anyone remaining in the area in which we were fighting is a legitimate target. Whether or not there is any doubt [about their identity].
One can talk about whether this is necessary (it isn’t), or say this is way to win wars (I doubt it). But you don’t have to lie [as the IDF did]. These are the orders for opening fire in Gaza. Anyone in the combat zone: terrorist.”
When three Israeli hostages emerge from captivity they should be welcomed with open arms by their “liberators.” How can a soldier not tell from 30 feet whether someone is Israeli or Palestinian? For sure, these captives would have spoken Hebrew, and with an Israeli accent. It’s easy enough to tell a Palestinian from an Israel Jewish Hebrew accent. And finally when the last remaining hostage cried out for help in Hebrew, why didn’t that cause the soldiers to reconsider?
The IDF claims that the soldiers didn’t understand what they’d done until they noticed that one of the dead had “western features ” (yes, that’s what media account said). At that point someone said, “Oops.”’ (12)
The reason the story has changed is fairly obvious in that the IDF has implemented another kind of proverbial Hannibal Directive to sacrifice the two IDF soldiers who murdered the three Israeli hostages – two of whom were ironically captured IDF soldiers – in order to try and save the IDF from the anger of the Israeli populace and international criticism because it exposed that the IDF have been ordered to simply murder anyone ‘in the combat zone’ whether they are surrendering, injured, are a civilian or in this case an Israeli hostage.
This – as Silverstein says – is absolute PR disaster for Israel and the IDF and it also demonstrates the genocidal nature of the Israeli war against the Palestinians, which started with the ethnic cleansing operation called Plan Dalet in 1948 and continues to this day in new iterations every few years when an ethnic cleansing operation is exposed for what it is. That it was an ethnic cleansing operation is then simply denied, those exposing it called ‘anti-Semitic’, the operation is then ‘officially cancelled’ and promptly brought back in reworded/restructured form with another name.
Rinse and repeat.
And where are these Palestinian refugees supposed to go?
Europe and North America. (13)
This is all to continue a modified version of the Samson Option to flood Europe and North America with immigrants to both prevent and divide resistance to jewish power in those countries as well as get ‘revenge’ for the so-called ‘Holocaust’ just using a hundred Nakbas rather than a hundred nukes.
References
(1) https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231119-israeli-helicopter-opened-fire-on-israelis-in-festival-during-hamas-attack-on-october-7-report/
(2) Compare https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/by65800qmt and https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/10/middleeast/israel-kibbutzim-kfar-aza-beeri-urim-hamas-attack-intl/index.html to https://www.timesofisrael.com/14-kids-under-10-25-people-over-80-up-to-date-breakdown-of-oct-7-victims-we-know-about/
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Directive#The_Hannibal_Directive
(4) Ibid.
(5) https://www.maariv.co.il/news/military/Article-547270
(6) https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-idf-directives-allow-massive-force-to-prevent-soldiers-kidnapping/
(7) https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hkp00rchsp
(8) https://worldisraelnews.com/idf-mistook-hostages-for-hamas-trap/
(9) https://worldisraelnews.com/idf-accidentally-kills-3-hostages-amid-fighting-in-gaza/
(10) https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-troops-mistakenly-open-fire-and-kill-3-hostages-in-northern-gaza-battlefield/
(11) https://www.timesofisrael.com/initial-idf-probe-hostages-were-shirtless-waving-white-flag-when-troops-opened-fire/
(12) https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2023/12/17/idf-loses-10-dead-in-reckless-gaza-attack-and-kills-3-hostages/
(13) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/14/israeli-minister-supports-voluntary-migration-of-palestinians-in-gaza; https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-minister-calls-voluntary-emigration-gazans-2023-11-14/