Israeli military pilot Nof Erez said that it is possible that Israeli forces implemented the “Hannibal Protocol” during their response to the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7th.

Hannibal, a controversial military protocol attributed to the use of the Israeli army since its official adoption in 2006, allows the lives of captured soldiers to be risked, and it returned to the forefront again after Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip captured dozens of Israeli soldiers, including high-ranking military personnel, in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on last October.

In a statement to the Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday, the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Nof Erez, indicated the possibility of the Israeli army that intervened to deal with the Hamas attack implementing the Hannibal Protocol, which the occupation army uses to prevent the capture of its soldiers, even if it leads to their killing.

Erez said, "It is not known whether the warplanes and drones opened fire on the hostages when they responded to the attack launched by Hamas."

He added, "It appears that the Hannibal Protocol was implemented at some point on that day, because when a hostage situation was discovered, this required Hannibal, knowing that the Hannibal maneuvers that we conducted over the past 20 years were limited to one vehicle carrying hostages. As for what we saw in the  Al-Aqsa 'Flood' is considered a large-scale Hannibal.

According to news reported by the Israeli media, Lieutenant Colonel Erez was dismissed on October 31, after criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli army announced that Erez was dismissed after he expressed his opinion on political issues while on active duty.

A report from the Haaretz newspaper showed, on Saturday, that an Israeli military helicopter opened fire on Israelis participating in a party organized near Kibbutz Ra'im in the border of the Gaza Strip on the 7th of last October.

"Haaretz" reported that the security establishment's assessments showed that an Israeli army combat helicopter arrived at the concert venue, opened fire on the perpetrators of the attacks there, and apparently also wounded some of the festival's participants (referring to the Israelis). It explained that the security assessment was based on investigations that conducted by Israeli police with Hamas militants who were arrested by Israel.

Source: Anadolu Agency