The Israeli newspaper Haaretz called for an immediate investigation into an Israeli tank’s bombing of a citizen’s home in the Be’eri settlement in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, leading to the death of a number of Israelis.
The newspaper said in its editorial on Monday, “There is no more just demand than asking the relatives of the people killed in the hostage incident in the Be’eri settlement to investigate the army’s actions and obtain answers regarding the circumstances of the death of their loved ones.”
She added, “Furthermore, the families should not submit this request alone. The Israeli army must provide them and the public with an explanation for its behavior on October 7 in front of Bessie Cohen’s house.”
Local media reports revealed that the army fired a tank shell at the home of an Israeli family while it was being held by Palestinian gunmen on October 7, killing the gunmen and 12 Israelis.
In this context, the newspaper pointed out the need to ensure that the so-called Hannibal Protocol – which stipulates the necessity of preventing the taking of hostages even at the cost of harming them – was used against the Israelis held hostage in that house.
Hannibal is a controversial military protocol whose use has been attributed to the Israeli army since its official adoption in 2006 by allowing field units to hit captives with heavy weapons, even if this led to the death of Israeli prisoners, to prevent them from leaving the site of the event accompanied by prisoners.
The protocol returned to the forefront after the Palestinian resistance captured dozens – including high-ranking soldiers – in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7. Its first formulation dates back to the year 1986, but Haaretz newspaper indicated that former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot canceled it in June. June 2016.
Unanswered questions
In this context, Haaretz explained that the Israeli army must investigate and provide answers now, while the war is in full swing, because these answers relate to the fate of the 136 hostages who, after 95 days, are still held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
She added that the suspicion that the army used the Hannibal Protocol against the 14 Israelis – who were detained by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Cohen family home in the Be’eri settlement – is based on the testimony of Yasmin Porat and Hadas Dagan, the only survivors of the incident.
Haaretz pointed out that the families’ request from the army to conduct a comprehensive and transparent investigation into the decisions and procedures that led to this tragic outcome, and to publish its results first to the families and then to the public, are based on what General Barak Hiram – who was responsible for the fighting in that area – said in an interview with the New York Times. American.
Haaretz said that the public has the right to know the following: “Did Hiram act in accordance with the rules and spirit of the Israeli army? Or was he in violation of them? And was the spirit of the Hannibal Protocol prevalent in the Israeli army during its war on Hamas?”
She added that the answers to these questions are crucial to what is happening now, and therefore the Israeli army owes them immediate public answers.
On October 7, the Palestinian resistance – led by Hamas – launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in response to the continuing attacks by Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinian people, their property and sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
Since October 7, the Israeli army has continued a devastating war on Gaza that has left, as of Monday, 23,84 martyrs, 58,926 wounded, massive infrastructure destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.