In the bloody Gaza summer of 2014, one day stands out at more brutal than most.
On August 1, Israeli planes, tanks and artillery bombarded four neighborhoods in the southern Gazan city of Rafah over the course of a few hours, killing 150 people, many of whom were civilians. Many legal experts believe a war crime may have been committed in the onslaught.
The reason for the massacre is perhaps just as unsettling as the carnage it involved. Hamas militants had kidnapped three Israeli soldiers, killing two and capturing one. In order to prevent the soldier being taken hostage, Israeli commanders invoked a procedure that seeks to retrieve soldiers, dead or alive, no matter what the cost.
Known as the Hannibal Directive – allegedly after the Carthaginian Emperor Hannibal, who poisoned himself rather than let Roman troops kidnap him – it’s one of the IDF’s most controversial protocols.
But this week it’s been revoked, reports in Israeli daily Haaretz have confirmed.
What will replace the contested directive is unclear, but whatever’s introduced will have a tough specification to fulfil. The Hannibal Directive is designed to prevent high-profile hostage situations which, in Israel, can have the power to alter the course of politics and war. Essentially, the implications of the rule have until now remained the same: prevent an abduction using whatever means necessary, even if that means killing the soldier being taken.
It’s been in force since the 1980s, and although it was officially discontinued in 2000 much evidence – including from that bloody day in Gaza – points to its continued use.
The directive was brought to renewed attention with the case of Gilad Shalit, a young Israeli soldier taken hostage for five years in 2006, who was released in a prisoner exchange that saw 1000 Palestinian inmates freed from Israeli jails. It’s not a scenario Israeli authorities want to repeat.
Reports said an unnamed Israeli General had confirmed the directive would be abandoned. He agreed that the protocol left too much room for interpretation in the use of force, suggesting that high casualty counts did play a role in the suspension of the strategy.
What is set to replace the Hannibal Directive, however, is as yet unknown.
BS
