chopper
© Ofer Zidon/Flash90/FileIsraeli Air Force Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter • June 8, 2012
Israeli Air Force (reserve) Col. Nof Erez has described Israel's actions on 7 October as a "mass Hannibal" event, in reference to the controversial directive ordering Israeli commanders to kill their own soldiers to prevent them being taken captive.

In an interview with Haaretz on 15 November, Col. Erez discussed the response of Israel's fleet of Apache attack helicopters as Hamas fighters infiltrated military bases and settlements in an effort to take soldiers and civilians captive back to Gaza.

He describes how the pilots opened fire on multiple places along the border fence to prevent Hamas from taking the captives back, killing both Hamas fighters and Israelis.

As a result, "The Hannibal directive was probably deployed because once you detect a hostage situation, this is Hannibal."

A 2003 Haaretz investigation of the directive concluded that "from the point of view of the army, a dead soldier is better than a captive soldier who himself suffers and forces the state to release thousands of captives in order to obtain his release."

For example, when Hamas took Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captive in 2006, the Palestinian resistance group held him for five years before exchanging him for 1027 Palestinians held captive in Israeli prisons.

On 7 October, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari publicly acknowledged the Israeli army was dealing with "hostage situations" and that they were using both air strikes and ground forces to deal with them.

Hagari said the military was "fighting in 22 locations," adding there was "no community in southern Israel where we do not have forces, in all the towns."

Col. Erez stated that normally, Israeli commanders would be faced with situations where just one soldier is being taken captive. He described:
"The Hannibal we have been drilling for in the past 20 years was relating to a vehicle, you know what point in the fence it would come in, on what side of the road it would move, and even on which road."

But in Gaza on 7 October:

"What we saw here was a mass Hannibal. There were many openings in the fence, thousands of people in many different vehicles with hostages and without."
Col. Erez further stated that the helicopter pilots operating in the air normally received targets from division command center, or from Israeli troops communicating with them on the ground, but on 7 October, Hamas had taken out both, so the pilots were choosing their own targets on the border.

The Apache pilots had no way to distinguish between Hamas fighters, Palestinians, and Israelis, and therefore opened fire on all cars and people on the Gaza border without distinction, a 15 October report from Yedioth Ahronoth explained.
"The rate of fire against the thousands of terrorists was tremendous at first, and only at a certain point did the pilots begin to slow down the attacks and carefully select the target."
Amid the confusion, twenty-eight Israeli combat helicopters fired all of the ammunition they were holding, including hundreds of 30 mm explosive shells and Hellfire missiles, during the course of the day.

After landing his Apache to reload ammunition at roughly 10:00 am, the commander of the 190 Squadron instructed the other pilots "to shoot at everything they see in the fence area," separating Israel from Gaza, the Yedioth Ahronoth report said.

Col. Erez also commented on reports the Israeli army had used tanks and helicopters to bomb homes in settlements around Gaza, such as kibbutz Be'eri, with both Hamas fighters and Israeli captives inside.

He also suggested these homes were bombed according to the Hannibal directive, with permission from the military leadership observing the battles by live feed from drones.
"They didn't bomb the houses without permission. I myself, by the way, saw many drones above every settlement as a computer image. We can watch from every command center in Israel."
Israeli officials say Hamas killed 1,200 Israeli soldiers and civilians on 7 October. However, it is unclear how many were killed by Hamas, and how many were killed by Israeli forces seeking to prevent them being taken back to Gaza.

Israel has used the events of 7 October to justify a mass bombing and ground invasion of Gaza that has now killed over 12,000 Palestinians, including over 5,000 children.

In July, Col. Erez, publicly refused to serve in the reserves, telling Israeli broadcaster Kan that he cannot serve and "volunteer for a dictatorship," in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul effort.

Col. Erez served for 20 years in the military and a further 24 years as a reservist.