Long suspected but now proven in an investigation by Haaretz.
Israeli army used Hannibal Directive during Hamas’s October 7 attack: Report
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/7/israeli-army-used-hannibal-directive-during-october-7-hamas-attack-report
The Israeli army ordered the Hannibal Directive – a controversial Israeli military policy aimed at preventing the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces at any cost – on October 7 last year, according to an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Citing testimonies from Israeli soldiers and senior army officers, the newspaper said the Israeli army made decisions with limited and unverified information, and issued an order that “not a single vehicle can return to Gaza”.
The protocol “was employed at three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas”, the newspaper said, adding that while it was not aware how many soldiers and civilians were hit, “the cumulative data indicates that many of the kidnapped people were at risk, exposed to Israeli gunfire, even if they were not the target”.
'There was crazy hysteria, and decisions started being made without verified information': Documents and testimonies obtained by Haaretz reveal the Hannibal operational order, which directs the use of force to prevent soldiers being taken into captivity, was employed at three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas, potentially endangering civilians as well.
Up to 186,000 people may have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza: Report
Three researchers, writing in the Lancet Journal, said the estimate includes direct deaths from the conflict as well as indirect deaths from causes such as reproductive, communicable and non-communicable diseases.
The researchers – who include Martin McKee, a member of the editorial board of the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research – came up with the estimate by extrapolating the death toll of 37, 396 given by the Gaza Health Ministry on June 19.
“Armed conflicts have indirect health implications beyond the direct harm from violence,” the researchers said in the letter published by The Lancet.
“The total death toll is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population’s inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to UNRWA,” they wrote.
“In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza,” they added.
The estimate was published in The Lancet’s correspondence section, which includes letters from readers that are not normally externally peer-reviewed.
