According to an investigation by Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) implemented the said directive, which killed Israeli civilians and soldiers alike, just so they could prevent the militant group from taking them as captives back to Gaza. The Hebrew edition of the news outlet reported on Jan. 11 that "the IDF ordered all of its combat units in practice to use the 'Hannibal Procedure' although without clearly mentioning this explicitly by name." The said protocol ordered to stop, at all costs, any attempt by Hamas terrorists to return to Gaza. This is despite the fear that some of them have abductees," the paper wrote.
Yedioth Ahronoth also reported that it was not made clear, as of press time, the number of Israeli hostages that died due to the activation of the Hannibal. "In the week after the attack, soldiers of elite units checked about 70 vehicles that were left in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip. These are vehicles that did not reach Gaza because on the way they were shot by a combat helicopter, an anti-tank missile, or a tank, and at least in some cases everyone in the vehicle was killed," it stated.
However, according to the news, Hamas and other Palestinians successfully took 240 Israeli soldiers and civilians from the kibbutzim and military bases back to Gaza as captives, in hopes of exchanging them for the Palestinian women and children held prisoner by the Israelis.
New video has been released showing an Israeli former detainee, who was freed during the recent exchange, talking about how the Israeli military shot at the tractor taking them to #Gaza, killing her mother and injuring her and her daughter. pic.twitter.com/cXYL2kJQBe
— Stop the Genocide in Gaza Marwa AlGamal (@MarwaEl94317678) January 14, 2024
Israeli Air Force reservist: It was a mass Hannibal
A lot of personal accounts have been surfacing, proving that Israelis were all set to commit genocide, calling the "Hannibal Directive" a response to what may have been an Israeli-triggered Hamas attack.
Israeli Air Force (reserve) Col. Nof Erez described his country's actions as a "mass Hannibal" event. "There were many openings in the fence, thousands of people in many different vehicles with hostages and without," he told Haaretz, the longest-running newspaper in Israel. (Related: Israeli forces were ordered to FIRE INDISCRIMINATELY into kibbutz, IDF tank gunner reveals.)
A notable news outlet was told by journalist Dan Cohen that the Israeli military killed 68-year-old Efrat Katz as she was being taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza on a cart pulled by a tractor on the fateful day. Her daughter, Doron Katz-Asher, and two granddaughters, two-year-old Raz and four-year-old Aviv were also in the cart. Katz-Asher later said that the Israeli army opened fire on the tractor, injuring the children and killing her mother.
Another one was of 80-year-old Carmela Dan and her 12-year-old autistic granddaughter Noya, who both vanished on the morning of the attack. The family assumed both were taken captive by Hamas but two weeks later, Israeli authorities announced their bodies "were found near the border fence."
In another widely reported case, Israeli Brigadier General Barak Hiram acknowledged to the New York Times that he gave an order for a tank commander to open fire on a home in Kibbutz Be'eri to kill Hamas fighters, even though 14 Israeli captives were barricaded inside the home as well. The Hamas fighters and all but one of the captives were killed, including 12-year-old twins Liel and Yanai Hetzroni. Their bodies were so severely damaged and burned that it took weeks to identify them.
Another case in Be'eri was of an elderly couple, Mati and Amir Weiss, who were allegedly killed by Hamas fighters who entered their home. Mati sent a message to their son Yuval that the fighters had entered the house and that Amir had been shot. Yuval, who was a member of the kibbutz security team, provided their location to commanders in the army, telling them Hamas fighters were inside the home. Haaretz reported later that “Mati and Amir Weiss were attacked by terrorists who blew up one of the walls of their safe room and shot them.” But the picture of their home showed a massive hole in the wall and significant damage to the roof, suggesting a tank shell or helicopter strike had hit it.
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