A former Israeli opposition leader called on Sunday for an investigation into the Israeli army’s implementation of the “Hannibal Protocol” in Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip on October 7.
The controversial “Hannibal Protocol” stipulates the use of heavy weapons in the event that Israelis are captured, even in the event of a threat to their lives, with the aim of preventing the prisoners from leaving the scene of the event, as it is considered that it is better for the Israeli to be dead than to remain captive.
The Israeli army’s implementation of this protocol sparked widespread controversy, after information was published about the killing of Israelis by “friendly fire” during the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) attack on towns and military bases in the Gaza Strip on October 7.
The American New York Times published an investigation into the killing of 12 Israelis as a result of an Israeli tank bombing a house in the Be’eri settlement, under the direction of military commander Barak Hiram, after they were detained by Palestinian resistance fighters.
The former leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Shelly Yachimovich, said on the X platform that Brigadier General Hiram ordered firing from a tank and storming a house in the Be’eri area, resulting in the deliberate killing of 12 hostages, including children. She said that a violent campaign exists to disrupt Any investigation or discussion about what she described as the “inferno incident.”
Yachimovich saw the incident as an implementation of the “Hannibal Protocol,” and she sarcastically said, “Hannibal is turning over in his grave.”
She added, “Why? Hiram is the hero of Israel, and Israeli heroes protect the Israeli people and do not kill them. Who am I to judge? And who is he to kill?”
Israel did not officially recognize the implementation of the “Hannibal Protocol” in the Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip.
“Hannibal” protocol
According to the Israeli media, the first issuance of the Hannibal Protocol dates back to 1986, but the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz indicated that the former Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Gadi Eisenkot, canceled it in June 2016.
But the protocol returned to the forefront after the Palestinian factions captured dozens of Israelis, including high-ranking military personnel, during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation last October 7.
Israel did not issue an official comment on Yachimovich’s statements until this morning.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli writer Noa Lemon also shed light, last Thursday, on the protocol through two novels that refer to the Israeli army’s implementation of the “Hannibal Protocol” in the Gaza Strip on October 7, and Lemon called for an immediate investigation into these events.
In an article published in the Haaretz newspaper, Lemon wondered whether Israel had implemented the Hannibal Protocol in the incident of Israeli hostage-taking in the Be’eri settlement on October 7.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which – as of yesterday, Sunday – resulted in the death of 20,424 Palestinians, and the injury of 54,036 others, most of them children and women. This war also caused massive destruction of infrastructure and created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
