Israeli academic doubts army will investigate use of controversial Hannibal Protocol

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – An Israeli academic has cast doubts on any government move to investigate the use of Hannibal Protocol, which recommends killing captors even if it risks the lives of Israeli hostages, during a Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

“There is absolutely nothing [in the code] to allow someone to kill an Israeli citizen, in uniform or not,” Asa Kasher, a philosopher who wrote the army’s code of conduct, told Haaretz newspaper on Thursday.

According to Israeli media, the Hannibal Protocol is a military directive applied by the Israeli army that governs how field units respond when a soldier is captured by hostile forces.

It stated that the protocol was drafted in 1986 and was canceled in 2016 by a decision of the then-Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot, who currently serves as a minister in the Military Ministerial Council.

At least 13 Israelis were killed by Israeli tank fire in Be’eri settlement during Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7.

Israeli officials have refused to launch any investigation into the use of the Hannibal Protocol until the current war on the Gaza Strip is over.

"This is their approach,” Kasher said. “We hear it all the time from the army spokesperson: 'We aren't speaking about it now. The day will come. We will investigate and the results will be publicized to the public.'"

The Israeli philosopher, however, believes that the incident calls for an immediate investigation, similar to the one when three hostages managed to escape from Hamas captivity in Gaza only to be mistakenly killed by the Israeli army.

"There's definitely more than one version of the order…But there's also other changes, even contradictions among the versions," Kasher said.

"In both the original order and the current version, there is absolutely nothing that would allow for someone to kill an Israeli citizen, whether he is in uniform or not."

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 24,620 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,830 others injured, according to local health authorities.

According to the UN, around 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio