A new UN report has revealed that the Israeli army killed at least 14 Israelis on October 7, 2023, as part of a protocol aimed at preventing capture.
The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) found that the Israeli forces were likely intentionally killed to avoid giving the Palestinian side an upper hand in possible negotiations.
The report, published on Wednesday, documented repeated use of the so-called Hannibal Directive, also called the Hannibal Protocol, in which abductees were killed to prevent their capture.
The documents gathered by the UN commission showed repeated uses of the Hannibal Directive on 7 October as Israeli forces were combating Hamas resistance fighters who entered southern Israel from Gaza.
The UN commission also verified information indicating that, in at least two other cases, Israeli forces had likely applied the Hannibal Directive, resulting in the killing of up to 14 Israeli civilians. One woman was killed by helicopter fire.
In another case the COI found that Israeli tank fire killed some or all of the 13 civilian hostages held in a house in illegal settlement of Be’eri.
The secretive Hannibal Directive, which had become public some year ago, has been officially revoked in 2016; however, several Israeli outlets have reported that the actions and rhetoric of the Israeli forces during the Palestinian resistance movement special operation on October 7 implied that the directive had been re-activated by Tel Aviv in some manner.
The United Nation COI said it had confirmed one statement by an Israeli security forces tank crew, "confirming that the crew had applied the Hannibal Directive by shooting at a vehicle which they suspected was transporting abducted [Israeli] soldiers".
The COI also said it had verified information indicating that, in at least two other cases, the security forces had likely applied the Hannibal Directive, resulting in the killing of up to 14 Israeli civilians.
"One woman was killed by [Israeli] helicopter fire while being abducted from Nir Oz to Gaza by militants," the UN report confirmed, referring to one of the illegal Israeli settlements targeted in the October 7 retaliatory operation by Palestinians.
"In another case the Commission found that Israeli tank fire killed some or all of the 13 civilian hostages held in a house in Beeri," it said, referring to another illegal Israeli settlement.
The Palestinian resistance groups launched the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation in retaliation to numerous atrocities by the Zionist forces.