Top-level internal probes of the Israeli Army’s failure on October 7, 2023 reaffirmed that the Air Force had been ordered to carry out Hannibal directives a few hours after Palestinian resistance in Gaza began its Al-Aqsa flood operation.
The Hannibal Directive is a long-standing Israeli military protocol aimed at preventing the capture of Israeli hostages, and even the danger of their lives, reported by the Cradle.
The Air Force began firing “everything” near the Gaza border, according to the report. At the same time, Israeli pilots were previously tasked with carrying out the undisclosed “Sword of Damocles” mission.
By the end of the day, the Air Force had made 945 attacks on Gaza envelopes, and the helicopters had fired 11,000 shells at Hamas fighters and Israeli settlers and soldiers.
According to Israeli media, Air Force commanders “questioned” resources on October 7th that “Damocles Sword” operations, which could help to achieve better defense of the Gaza border.
Other findings from the probe, along with “complete confusion at IDF headquarters,” were shown to have contributed to a slow response from Tel Aviv to the bold Palestinian attack.
“Several IDF sources still say today by Gaza division chief Brigggen. Avi Rosenfeld may not admit that his forces were completely defeated by Hamas. And certainly he did not admit that it happened by 7am on October 7th,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
The top army commander reportedly relied on Rosenfeld to report on the situation regarding the Gaza envelope for hours after his army was already defeated.
“None of his bosses could imagine a situation where Rosenfeld was in such a fast and total defeat. Rosenfeld himself did not acknowledge how bad his situation was until he called (Air Force Commander) Omar Tishler at 9:47am,” the report added that the Air Force “has made no decision to cover the Israel-Gaza border until the Israel-Gaza border was left from 10am.”
The “Hannibal Order” did not begin until around 10:30am.”
By the time the army commanders had achieved “85% awareness level regarding the incident” in southern Israel, most Palestinian fighters had already returned to Gaza with prisoners in towing.
The success of 251 Israeli soldiers and many of the civilians was later killed by Israeli airstrikes and friendly fires from soldiers.
“I saw people speak in trembling voices in inquiries and said, ‘We’ve failed.’ It’s not easy for the commander to say, “I failed.” And soon, I’ll say it about myself too. Herzi Halevi, chief of Israeli military general staff, said on Thursday they explained, took responsibility, took responsibility, took responsibility, took responsibility, received difficulties, acknowledge their difficulties, acknowledge their difficulties, and this is more valuable than anything else.
Other findings from the report claimed that Tel AVI “significantly underestimated” Hamas’ capabilities, and despite its intelligence, the Palestinian movement, on the contrary, thought it had no interest in widespread conflict with Israel.
The Army report came weeks after the former Israeli Defense Minister and hoped that war criminal Joavalant had admitted that he ordered the Army to use Hannibal directives to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers during the Al-Axa flood operation.
Several investigations by the cradle and other media outlets since October 2023 revealed that the majority of the 1,200 Israelis who died on October 7, 2023 had been killed by the military.