JPOST
IDF carried out Hannibal Directive, new ‘Sword of Damocles’ operation on October 7
Yonah Jeremy Bob
February 27, 2025

The Air Force was carrying out “the Sword of Damocles” operation – a code name only being revealed on Thursday for the first time – to attack many Hamas commanders and their headquarters around 10:30 a.m. on October 7, 2023, just as it was carrying out the “Hannibal Directive” of gunning down anything that moved around the Israel-Gaza border. The Air Force has been questioned about if the forces it had invested in attacking Hamas commanders deep in Gaza would have been better used to defend the Gaza border and to attack Hamas invaders in Israeli villages. Air Force sources have said that they wish this air power had been used differently on October 7, given that protecting the villages and the border should have been a higher priority than killing top Hamas officials. READ MORE

WIKI The Hannibal Directive is the name of a controversial procedure used by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces… According to the directive, once it had been declared by a field officer, Israeli forces were to open fire on enemy forces carrying away an IDF prisoner. Vehicles suspected of removing such a prisoner from the battlefield could thus be attacked, even at the risk of harming, or even killing, the abductee himself.

TIMES OF ISRAEL IDF’s Oct. 7 probes show it misread Hamas for years, left southern Israel utterly vulnerable Investigations detail military’s decade-long ‘misperception’ of Hamas, its refusal to recognize the imminent invasion even in the last few hours, and the chaos that catastrophically slowed the fightback on the day. Yahya Sinwar was seen as ‘a pragmatist’ who didn’t want war.