nov 3, 2023 - "What’s Israel’s Hannibal Directive? A former Israeli soldier tells all" Al jeezera 2023, Nov 3

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The controversial policy to avoid the capture of Israeli soldiers isn’t formally in place now. But echoes persist in the war in Gaza, say some analysts

What is the Hannibal Directive?

The directive, also known as the Hannibal Procedure or Hannibal Protocol, is an Israeli military policy that stipulates the use of maximum force in the event of a soldier being kidnapped, said Shaul.

“You will open fire without constraints, in order to prevent the abduction,” he said, adding that the use of force is carried out even at the risk of killing a captive soldier.

In addition to firing at the abductors, soldiers can fire at junctions, roads, highways and other pathways opponents may take a kidnapped soldier through, Shaul said.

The Israeli military has denied the interpretation of the directive that allows for the killing of their fellow troops, but Israeli soldiers, including Shaul, have understood it as a licence to do just that, as it is preferred to a scenario in which a soldier is taken prisoner.

Shaul said that the directive was shared with him and other commanders orally. “I’ve never seen any written text of the rules of engagement,” he said.

According to Annyssa Bellal, an international lawyer who specialises in armed conflicts and international law, and senior researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute, the directive was never an official policy and was therefore never published in its entirety.

“From a legal point of view, the directive is very controversial,” Bellal told Al Jazeera.

The aspect of the directive which risks killing a soldier is controversial under international law given that states must respect their citizens’ right to life, which is not a right lost even if they are captured by other states, she explained.

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