It was during his time stationed at the border with Lebanon that Shaul was first told about the Hannibal Directive, a former controversial Israeli military policy aimed at preventing the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces – at any cost.
Israel last invoked it in 2014 during the war on Gaza that year, according to leaked military audio recordings, though the army denied it had used the doctrine. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the Israeli bombardment that followed, sparking accusations of war crimes against the Israeli army.
But to Shaul, the Hannibal Directive made sense as a soldier of war.
So what exactly is it? And is the directive – which Israel is believed to have suspended in 2016 – relevant to Israel’s current bombardment of Gaza that has killed more than 9,000 people? The bombing followed the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel in which more than 1,400 people were killed and at least 200 Israelis – including soldiers and civilians – were taken captive.