Since December, PN has carried a series of reports by the Electronic Intifada gathering together evidence that a number of Israeli citizens were deliberately killed by the Israel defence forces on 7 October last year, during the Hamas-led attacks (see PNs 2669, 2670, 2671 - print editions only).
The weight of evidence has finally broken through into the mainstream British press, in the Telegraph and the Guardian.
A long story on this subject appeared on the Daily Telegraph website on 13 June, reporting the findings of a UN inquiry: ‘UN investigators, led by Navi Pillay, a former UN human rights chief, concluded that at least 14 Israeli civilians, including 12-year-old twins and a 68-year-old grandmother, “were likely killed as a result of Israeli security forces fire.”’
An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, published on 7 July, turned up new evidence of the repeated use of ‘the Hannibal directive’ on 7 October: using lethal force to prevent Israelis being taken hostage, even if this meant killing the Israelis.
Some of the Ha’aretz material was published on the Guardian website later on 7 July, including the Kibbutz Be’eri incident that PN has covered several times: ‘While the [Hannibal] directive has only ever been used in relation to soldiers, a high-profile incident at the Be’eri kibbutz, in which a brigadier general ordered a tank to fire shells at a house with Hamas militants and 14 Israelis inside, killing 13 of the hostages, has raised questions about operational procedures causing civilian casualties.’
The Guardian did not report the repeated, explicit use of the word ‘Hannibal’ that Ha’aretz uncovered.
Here’s an order from divisional headquarters at 7.18am on 7 Octoer, after hearing that a soldier was being abducted at the Erez crossing into Gaza: ‘Hannibal at Erez, dispatch a Zik.’ A Zik is an assault drone.