Context:
Recently, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz revealed that the Israel Defence Force (IDF) activated the lethal Hannibal Directive military strategy in response to the October 7th Hamas attack.
What is Hannibal’s Directive?
- The Hannibal Directive, also known as Hannibal Procedure and Hannibal Protocol, is a controversial military protocol of the Israeli military designed to use maximum force to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers, even at the cost of hitting or wounding the soldiers themselves.
- Established in 1986 after Hezbollah seized three Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, it allows the IDF to take aggressive action, including lethal force if needed, to thwart capture.
- Israeli military censorship forbade all discussion of this subject in the press until 2003 when a doctor revealed its existence in a letter to the newspaper Ha’aretz.
Origin and Inspiration of the Doctrine
- The Hannibal Doctrine was created as a response to the Jibril Agreement of 1985 which involved exchanging 1,150 Palestinian prisoners for three Israelis captured by the Syria-based militant group ‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)’ in Lebanon.
- It is believed the policy was named after Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, who reportedly opted to take his own life rather than be captured by the Romans around 181 BCE.
Justification of the directive
- Israelis generally supported it because they believed captured soldiers might face mistreatment by militants including severe torture.
Many soldiers preferred risking death over capture. - However, legal experts have criticized the policy for its disregard for human life.
The current form and use of the Hanibal directive
- The directive was officially revoked in 2016, but reports suggest it may have been invoked again during the 7th October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel leading to immediate and widespread implementation of the Hannibal Directive at key military sites in Israel.
- Under the current version of the directive, a division commander has the authority to take drastic measures to thwart enemy attacks, including using heavy firepower within Israeli territory if necessary.