page_title: Hannibal Directive
hierarchical_section_title: Hannibal Directive
caption_attribution_description: November 13, 2011 Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz held today a surprise exercise for the Valley Brigade. Among other things, the forces practiced an abduction scenario from the Beka'ot Crossing to the Nablus area. The Israel Defense Forces Facebook page The Israel Defense Forces blog Follow us on Twitter
context_page_description: The Hannibal Directive is the code name of an order that the Israel Defense Forces has been accused of implementing regarding how field units should respond when a soldier is captured by enemy forces.
  According to an article written by Israeli journalist Sara Leibovich-Dar in 2003, the Hannibal Directive was drawn up in 1986 by a group of top Israeli officers and was officially in force until the year 2000. Leibovich-Dar quoted former Major General Yossi Peled as saying that the directive authorized attempting to stop abductors, for example by shooting at them, even if it put captured Israeli soldiers at risk. Peled denied that the aim was to kill the captured soldiers. However, since 2003, other writers have claimed that the policy is still in place, at least unofficially. Furthermore, some claim that the policy actually promotes the killing of captured soldiers to prevent the need for prisoner exchanges.
context_section_description: The Hannibal Directive (Hebrew: נוהל חניבעל‎) (or “Hannibal Procedure” or "Hannibal Protocol") is the code name of an order that the Israel Defense Forces has been accused of implementing regarding how field units should respond when a soldier is captured by enemy forces.
  According to an article written by Israeli journalist Sara Leibovich-Dar in 2003, the Hannibal Directive was drawn up in 1986 by a group of top Israeli officers and was officially in force until the year 2000. Leibovich-Dar quoted former Major General Yossi Peled as saying that the directive authorized attempting to stop abductors, for example by shooting at them, even if it put captured Israeli soldiers at risk. Peled denied that the aim was to kill the captured soldiers. However, since 2003, other writers have claimed that the policy is still in place, at least unofficially. Furthermore, some claim that the policy actually promotes the killing of captured soldiers to prevent the need for prisoner exchanges.
caption: IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz (right) in a training exercise where the forces practiced a soldier abduction scenario. Addressing the IDF's operations forum, Ganz stated that IDF protocols do not allow for a soldier to be killed in order to prevent his abduction.[1]
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