The Hannibal Directive is a command issued by the Israeli military. Its purpose is to prevent the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by using heavy fire to stop the abductors – even if that may harm or kill those being taken.

It has been used during Israeli operations during the past two decades but has come under scrutiny since the 7 October attacks and Israel’s war on Gaza.

An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in July 2024 reported that the Israeli army used the directive when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,139 people.

More than 250 soldiers, civilians and foreign nationals were also kidnapped and taken into Gaza following the attack.

But use of the directive, it is alleged, resulted in the deaths of Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Why is it called the Hannibal Directive?

Amidror, one of the writers of the directive, said that the name of the directive “was chosen at random and has no real meaning”.

But in 2003, Uri Avnery, an Israeli journalist, reported that the name was chosen deliberately.

Hannibal was a Carthaginian general and statesman from what is now modern-day Tunisia who fought the Romans during the Second Punic War. Most famously, he marched his forces including war elephants over the Alps to strike against Rome. Hannibal took his own life in 181 BCE to avoid falling into Roman hands.

Read the full story at the Middle East Eye.

Original photo by Reuters, modified by me. Related: