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February 9, 2025 | 03:38 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In his first interview on Thursday since being fired by Prime Minister Netanyahu in November, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant admitted to ordering the Hannibal Directive to be issued during the Hamas-led offensive on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.
The controversial doctrine allows the Israeli military to use all necessary force to prevent Israeli soldiers from being captured and taken to enemy territory – including actions that would result in the death of the captives. Gallant admitted to ordering the controversial protocol that involves killing the captives along with their captors.
"I think tactically in some places [the Hannibal Directive] [is] allowed, in others it is not, and that is a problem," he told Israel's Channel 12 on Feb. 7, according to The Cradle, providing the first direct confirmation by a senior Israeli official.
Israel claims Hamas killed around 1,100 Israeli civilians and soldiers during its attacks on Israeli settlements and military bases on Oct. 7 as part of Operation Flood Al-Aqsa.
However, Israeli forces reportedly killed a large number of their own civilians and soldiers during the offensive.
The army sent Apache attack helicopters, drones and tanks into its own territory in response to the attack, which killed not only Hamas fighters but also Israeli civilians and soldiers whom Palestinian fighters were trying to take prisoner and take back to Gaza.
Israeli helicopters also killed Israeli civilians at the Nova festival, which took place near the Re'im military base.
Last year, an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz alleged that the directive was distributed at three military facilities during the Oct. 7 attack, in which 1,139 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed and 251 more were taken to Gaza as prisoners.
However, the Israeli directive failed to distinguish between captured soldiers and civilians. A UN-backed report put the total number of civilians and soldiers killed by Israeli fire that day at more than a dozen.
Gallant made the comments in his first interview since being dismissed as defense minister in November.
The former defense minister also said that the current ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza was nearly identical to a previous proposal that Hamas was willing to accept in April last year.
Gallant accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of delaying the ceasefire deal. He added that if Netanyahu had agreed to it at the time, Israel could have brought back more live prisoners while releasing fewer Palestinian security detainees, Gallant said.
Many of the 251 Israeli soldiers and civilians captured by Hamas were later killed in Israeli airstrikes and Israeli army fire.
"I don't think the Israeli government did everything it could to bring the hostages back," Gallant said.
In January, Israel's top general, Herzi Halevi, resigned, citing "horrific security and intelligence failures" related to Hamas attacks.
Israel's genocide in Gaza over the past 15 months has killed at least 47,500 Palestinians, with some estimates putting the death toll at more than 200,000.
Editor’s Choice: Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Resigns From Politics
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