Ex-Israeli opposition leader demands probe into killing of 12 hostages by Israeli army on 7 October

A former Israeli opposition leader has demanded an investigation into the Israeli army’s attack on a house near the Gaza Strip, which killed all 12 hostages, saying they were killed under the “Hannibal Protocol” that says a dead Israeli is preferable to enemy-held captives, Anadolu Agency reports.

There is a vigorous campaign to prevent any investigation into the incident in which Brigadier General Hiram ordered the firing of a tank and storming the house in the area of Be’eri, killing 12 hostages, including children, former Israeli Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich said in a statement on X on Sunday, referring to the Israeli army attack on a house near the Gaza Strip on 7 October.

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 cancelled 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.

However, Yachimovich believed that the killings of 12 hostages were related to the implementation of the “Hannibal Protocol.”

Israel has not officially acknowledged the implementation of the protocol in the attack.

Nevertheless, both local and international media have questioned the circumstances surrounding the killing of hostages by Israeli soldiers during a Hamas attack on 7 October.

The American newspaper The New York Times recently published an investigative report about the killing of 12 Israelis in an Israeli tank bombing of a house in Kibbutz Be’eri, by the decision of an Israeli military commander, after they were taken hostage by Palestinian gunmen.​​​​​​​

READ: Another Israel witness confirms Israeli tanks killed own citizens on 7 October