Israeli soldier testifies. “We received orders on October 7th to cancel all patrols along the Gaza border from 5:20am to 9:00am”

I documented Israel's use of the Hannibal Directive to kill its own civilians and soldiers in my detailed (80 page) review of the events of 7 October. What happened is summarized in the introduction below (full article linked in second tweet): "On 7 October, Hamas carried out an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel. Under the cover of a barrage of rockets, fighters from the Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades, broke through the Gaza border fence to attack nearby military bases and settlements (kibbutzim). Israel claims that during the attack, Hamas fighters massacred some 1,200 Israelis, the majority civilians, while committing unthinkable atrocities. A close review of events on 7 October shows that Hamas fighters instead carried out what amounted to both a military assault and mass kidnapping operation to break Israel’s decades long siege on Gaza, which many view as the world’s largest concentration camp. In the process, they did kill hundreds of Israelis, including soldiers, police, and civilians, while taking hundreds more as captives back to Gaza. At the same time, many of the claims made by Israel about the scale and nature of Hamas atrocities, including the most horrific, have proven to be fabrications. Shockingly, many of the Israeli civilians and soldiers who died that day were killed not by Hamas, but by Israeli forces themselves, both as a result of friendly fire and the controversial military policy known as the “Hannibal Directive.” The policy dictates it is better for Israel to kill its own soldiers or civilians rather than allow an enemy to take them captive. As detailed below, the Israeli military unleashed overwhelming firepower to reconquer the military bases and kibbutzim near Gaza that had been taken over by Hamas. Israeli forces used heavy weapons, including from Apache attack helicopters, Merkava tanks, and armed Zik drones to bomb military bases and residential homes in which Hamas fighters had barricaded themselves, killing the fighters, Israeli soldiers, and civilians in the process. Israeli helicopters and drones also opened fire on Israeli civilians as they were being taken captive by Hamas fighters and other Palestinians back to Gaza by car, on foot, and even in tractors and golf carts. As a result, many destroyed cars and corpses of Israelis were found near the Gaza border fence in the days and weeks after the attack. The Israeli government says Hamas massacred 364 partygoers and took 40 more captive at the Nova music festival, a “rave” dance party which was taking place on the morning of 7 October near the Gaza border and Re’im military base. Hamas certainly killed partygoers and took others captive. But evidence shows that Israeli forces also unleashed overwhelming firepower and issued the Hannibal Directive at the festival, killing partygoers as well. Though it took hours for the army to respond, elite commando units from the Border Police, known as Yamam, were quickly deployed, including by transport helicopter, to the Nova site. Partygoers reported being fired on by armed men wearing Israeli uniforms. Apache helicopters also were deployed to the Nova site and opened fire using heavy weapons, killing partygoers as well. Destroyed cars and the charred corpses of partygoers littered the site following the battle. It is unknown how many were killed in the kibbutzim and at the Nova festival by Hamas fighters or other Palestinians who flooded across the border after them, and how many were killed by Israeli forces by friendly fire or deliberately under the Hannibal Directive. Though many Israeli civilians were burned to death by Israeli helicopter, drone, and tank fire, both in the kibbutzim and at the Nova festival, the Israeli military blamed all of these deaths on Hamas, citing them as proof of Hamas’ allegedly genocidal intent against Israeli Jews. The Israeli military, police, and volunteer rescue organizations also fabricated wild tales about Hamas fighters committing ISIS-like atrocities, such as the mass beheading of babies, cutting the fetuses out of pregnant mothers, and carrying out mass rapes, including cutting off the breast of a woman as she was gang raped. Though these claims were quickly refuted, they were widely repeated in the mainstream media and continue to color the perception of the Hamas attack. According to a list of victims compiled by the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz, 792 Israeli civilians, 59 police, and 368 soldiers were killed during the fighting on 7 October and subsequent days. To determine how many Israelis were killed by Hamas, and how many by Israeli forces, would require a detailed and objective investigation. However, establishing the full truth of what happened on 7 October will be difficult for several reasons. Israeli officials refused to follow standard protocols to document the condition of the bodies of those who died, and quickly destroyed multiple sites where controversial events took place using bulldozers. The verbal testimony that has emerged is also incomplete, due to the influence of Israeli military censors, which must approve any reports concerning national security published by the Israeli press, and in some cases even the foreign press. What really happened on 7 October is further obscured by the Israeli military’s refusal to release the full video footage collected from body cameras of killed Hamas fighters and dash cameras from cars in various sites of the fighting. However, enough details have emerged based on specific individual cases to construct a broad outline of events on 7 October and to understand the main dynamics of the violence. In the remainder of this essay, I briefly discuss the history of the kibbutzim and their relation to past Israeli assaults on Gaza. I then discuss the events of 7 October in great detail, starting with the Hamas attack on the Re’im and Nahal Oz military bases and Sderot police station. I then detail events at several kibbutzim, including Be’eri, Kfar Azza, Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, and Holit. I conclude by discussing events at the Nova rave, which are perhaps the most controversial.