Remember the Uvalde school shooting back on May 24, 2022 and how the horror over that was replaced with anger when people learned that the police could have done a lot more and refused to?
If it's new to you:
Keep that in mind as note Jake Johnson's latest report for COMMON DREAMS:
The Israeli newspaper Haaretzreported Sunday that Israel's military repeatedly employed a protocol known as the "Hannibal Directive" during the October 7 Hamas-led attack in an attempt to prevent the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers—even if it meant putting the lives of army captives and civilians at risk.
Haaretz found based on documents and interviews with soldiers and senior Israeli officers that Hannibal—an operational order developed in 1986 that "directs the use of force to prevent soldiers being taken into captivity" by enemy militants—was used "at three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas, potentially endangering civilians as well."
During the first hours of the Hamas-led attack, according to Haaretz, Israeli soldiers were given an order: "Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza."
"At this point, the IDF was not aware of the extent of kidnapping along the Gaza border, but it did know that many people were involved," the newspaper continued. "Thus, it was entirely clear what that message meant, and what the fate of some of the kidnapped people would be."
The full text of the Hannibal Directive has never been published. But according to a Haaretz story about the directive from more than two decades ago, part of it states that "during an abduction, the major mission is to rescue our soldiers from the abductors even at the price of harming or wounding our soldiers."
"Light-arms fire is to be used in order to bring the abductors to the ground or to stop them," it adds. "If the vehicle or the abductors do not stop, single-shot (sniper) fire should be aimed at them, deliberately, in order to hit the abductors, even if this means hitting our soldiers. In any event, everything will be done to stop the vehicle and not allow it to escape."
Israeli authorities have acknowledged "multiple incidents of our forces firing on our forces" on October 7. In April, Israel's military said that one of the hostages taken by Hamas militants during the October attack was likely killed by Israeli helicopter fire.
But
the IDF, which has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza since October
7, has declined to say whether Hannibal was used during the Hamas-led
attack.
Haaretz stressed Sunday that it "does not know whether or how many civilians and soldiers were hit due to these procedures, but the cumulative data indicates that many of the kidnapped people were at risk, exposed to Israeli gunfire, even if they were not the target."
The first of the known uses of the Hannibal Directive on October 7 came "when an observation post at the Yiftah outpost reported that someone had been kidnapped at the Erez border crossing, adjacent to the IDF's liaison office," Haaretz reported.
"'Hannibal at Erez' came the command from divisional headquarters, 'dispatch a Zik.' The Zik is an unmanned assault drone, and the meaning of this command was clear," the newspaper found.
The directive was employed at least two additional times during the attack, according to Haaretz, which cited one unnamed source in Israel's Southern Command as saying that the country's forces were instructed to "turn the area around the border fence into a killing zone, closing it off toward the west."
Wow. Talk about cowards. And maybe the Israeli government, when they came up with that plan long ago should have informed its citizens. That behavior is outrageous and one more reason War Criminal Netanyahu has to go.
Instead, the slaughter continues. Melanie Lidman and Samy Magdy (AP) report, "Marking nine months since the war in Gaza started, Israeli protesters blocked highways across the country Sunday, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and pushing for a cease-fire to bring back scores of hostages held by Hamas. The demonstrations come as long-running efforts to broker a truce gained momentum last week when Hamas dropped a key demand for an Israeli commitment to end the war." AFP adds, "In Israel's two largest cities, demonstrators blocked roads, with tens of thousands stopping traffic along major intersections and a highway in central Tel Aviv where police used water canon to disperse them. Among the protesters, many of whom are related to the hostages, there was a sense the government had deserted those still held in Gaza by Palestinian militants Hamas."
Meanwhile, Maram Humaid (ALJAZEERA) reports:
Faraj al-Samouni, 39, sits in a tent in a makeshift camp in Deir el-Balah, surrounded by his family who can hardly believe he is alive after months of Israeli captivity.
“My brothers didn’t recognise me when I was released,” he says.
He is diminished – he lost 30kg (66 pounds) or 30 percent of his body weight after spending more than six months in Israeli custody. He and his two brothers were arrested while walking down the so-called “safe corridor” on November 16 on their way to the south of Gaza.
They were taken to a military barracks, where they were tortured severely, he says.
“The beatings focused on sensitive body parts. Female soldiers stomped on our heads with their metal-toed boots,” he says.
One day, he says, three young men returned from interrogations bleeding from their bottoms, unable to move.
They had been beaten and raped with sticks.
So that's what they do to Palestinians they imprison. Good luck, DISNEY, selling SNOW WHITE next year. At least you have Gal in the part of The Evil Queen, maybe that'll help. THE NEW ARAB notes:
The Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) condemned on Sunday the reported summary execution of four Palestinian prisoners by Israeli forces near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.
According to a statement issued by the PPC, based on eyewitness accounts from survivors, the four prisoners were among a group of 15 people arrested by Israel and detained for four days. During this time, all of the prisoners were subject to torture, beatings and being held in harsh and humiliating conditions.
At the time of the prisoners being released at Karem Abu Salem, Israel targeted the group, deliberately killing the four as-yet unidentified Palestinians, according to witness testimony. Photos of their retrieved bodies show signs of torture, with the four dead still wearing handcuffs.
The Israeli government bombed another school. Soraya Ebrahimi (THE NATIONAL) reports:
The civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza said a strike Sunday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least four people, the second such Israeli attack in two days.
The Israeli military, which has long accused Palestinian militants of using schools and other civilian infrastructure, confirmed the strike "in the area of the school" in Gaza City.
It said the school complex was used as a militant hideout and housed "a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility".
The civil defence agency said Ihab Al Ghusain, the Hamas government's deputy labour minister, was among those killed in the strike on the Holy Family school.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it is monitoring, with grave concern, the news of the raids at its school.
It condemned “in the strongest terms the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene".
"We continue to pray for the Lord’s mercy and hope that the parties will reach an agreement that would put an immediate end to the horrifying bloodbath and humanitarian catastrophe in the region,” the organisation said.
AFP notes this was the second attack on a school in two days.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 275 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza's death toll rose to 38,153 on Sunday, exactly nine months since the war began, according to an update from the enclave's Health Ministry. Air strikes concentrated on central Gaza between Saturday and Sunday morning, killing 55 people in the ministry's 24-hour reporting period. Another 123 people were wounded, taking the total number of injured to 87,828." This number has not yet been updated on Friday. Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:
On the issue of the death toll, THE NATIONAL notes:
Up to 186,000 people may have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a Lancet Journal report. The report said the estimate includes direct deaths from the conflict as well as indirect deaths from causes such as reproductive, communicable and non-communicable diseases.
The Lancet is one of the world's most highly cited medical journals.
In February, John Hopkins University estimated 70,000 'excess deaths' including 10,000 from diseases.
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