October 7 — the documented friendly-fire and Hannibal Directive record

Two things are documented in the public record about October 7, 2023, and this page documents both, because both are the record.

First, the established core of the day: independent investigations by the UN Commission of Inquiry (A/HRC/56/26) and Human Rights Watch found that Hamas-led Palestinian fighters killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, including hundreds of civilians — at least 364 of them at the Nova music festival — and abducted some 250 people to Gaza. Human Rights Watch concluded that the intentional killing and hostage-taking of civilians was “planned and highly coordinated” and amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Nothing in the friendly-fire reporting below negates or minimizes that record, and this page repeats it deliberately: claims that Israeli forces caused all or most of the October 7 deaths are contradicted by the UN’s and Human Rights Watch’s own investigations.

Second, a parallel record — assembled almost entirely by Israeli media, Israeli military sources, and a UN commission — establishes that Israeli forces also killed an undetermined number of Israelis on October 7, in part through orders associated with the “Hannibal Directive,” the once-secret procedure for preventing abductions through potentially lethal force, formally revoked in 2016. This page documents only what is verifiably reported, attributed to the outlet that reported it.

Early accounts: the Air Force’s own story

On October 15, 2023, the Israeli news site Ynet published an air force debrief by military correspondent Yoav Zitun (Hebrew), based on the military’s own after-action summaries. Ynet reported that Apache helicopter pilots, unable to distinguish Hamas fighters from Israeli civilians and soldiers on the ground, fired “on those crossing the fence, and even right inside the communities”; that from around 9:00 a.m. some pilots began attacking “on their own initiative,” bypassing approval restrictions; that a squadron commander directed crews “to shoot at everything they see in the fence area”; that targeting was coordinated in part over phone calls and WhatsApp; and that in the first four hours, helicopters and jets attacked some 300 targets, “most of them inside Israeli territory.” Ynet also reported that Hamas had instructed its fighters to walk slowly so that, from the air, they would be mistaken for Israelis.

On December 18, 2023, Ynet’s English edition reported the IDF’s acknowledgment that “casualties fell as a result of friendly fire on October 7,” adding that beyond operational investigations “it would not be morally sound to investigate these incidents due to the immense and complex quantity” of them.

Yedioth Ahronoth: “at all costs,” even with hostages

On January 10, 2024, Yedioth Ahronoth journalists Ronen Bergman and Yoav Zitun published an investigation (Hebrew) concluding that from midday on October 7 the IDF had, in practice, instructed all combat units to apply the Hannibal Directive without using its name: to stop “at all costs” any attempt by Hamas fighters to return to Gaza, “even if there are hostages with them.” As summarized in subsequent international coverage, the investigation reported that Israeli soldiers examined around 70 vehicles on the roads leading to Gaza that had been struck by helicopters, tanks, or drones, with all occupants killed in at least some cases.

The Be’eri house: a general’s acknowledged order

The most intensively documented single incident occurred at Kibbutz Be’eri, where Hamas fighters held Israeli hostages in the home of Pessi Cohen. In an interview with The New York Times published December 27, 2023, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, commander of the 99th Division, acknowledged authorizing tank fire on the house, saying he told the tank commander: “The negotiations are over. Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties.” The Times of Israel reported that the tank fired two shells toward the house; of 14 people held hostage inside, 13 were killed amid the fighting, including 68-year-old Adi Dagan, who was hit by shrapnel. Among the 13 killed were 12-year-old twins Liel and Yannai Hetzroni, as reported by The Jewish Chronicle and other outlets; only two hostages, Hadas Dagan and Yasmin Porat, survived.

In February 2024, Haaretz reported that a General Staff team was investigating the deaths of the hostages in the house. The IDF’s own Armored Corps investigation concluded in April 2024 that the hostages had been killed by militant small-arms fire rather than by the tank shells, and a further IDF probe cleared Hiram in July 2024, finding no civilians inside the building were harmed by the tank fire — a conclusion some Be’eri families publicly rejected, telling ABC News (Australia) that autopsies and forensic examinations “essentially were not done.” What Hiram ordered is on the record in his own words; who physically killed each hostage inside the house remains disputed between the IDF’s probes, survivors’ testimony, and the UN’s findings below.

The UN Commission of Inquiry, June 2024

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry’s report A/HRC/56/26 (with detailed findings in A/HRC/56/CRP.3) attributed the October 7 killings overwhelmingly to Palestinian armed groups, while also addressing Israeli fire. The Commission:

• documented one statement by an ISF tank crew “confirming that the crew had applied the Hannibal Directive by shooting at a vehicle which they suspected was transporting abducted ISF soldiers”;
• “verified information indicating that, in at least two other cases, ISF had likely applied the Hannibal Directive, resulting in the killing of up to 14 Israeli civilians” — one woman killed by ISF helicopter fire while being abducted from Nir Oz to Gaza, and the Be’eri house, where the Commission “found that Israeli tank fire killed some or all of the 13 civilian hostages held in a house in Be’eri”;
• confirmed the presence of at least eight attack helicopters in various locations on October 7 but stated it “could not confirm that they shot at civilians or civilian cars, including in the area of the festival,” noting that Israeli authorities had prioritized identification and burial over forensic investigation, with consequent loss of evidence.

The helicopter case the Commission referenced matches that of Efrat Katz, 68, abducted from Nir Oz: an Israeli Air Force investigation concluded she was likely killed by Israeli helicopter fire on the vehicle carrying her, as reported by the Times of Israel and ABC.

Haaretz, July 7, 2024: “Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza”

The central Israeli investigation is Haaretz’s July 7, 2024 report by Yaniv Kubovich (paywalled; corroborated in detail by the Times of Israel and The Guardian). Based on documents and testimonies from soldiers and mid-level and senior officers, Haaretz reported that the Hannibal procedure was employed at three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas — including the Erez crossing area, the Re’im base, and Nahal Oz — potentially endangering civilians as well. As relayed by the Times of Israel:

• At 7:18 a.m., after a surveillance soldier reported an abduction at the Erez crossing, divisional headquarters ordered “Hannibal at Erez” and instructed crews to “dispatch a Zik” attack drone; a similar order followed a second reported abduction half an hour later. A Hermes 450 drone attacked the Re’im base while Israeli Shaldag commandos were inside fighting to retake it.
• At 11:22 a.m., the Gaza Division was ordered: “Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza.” A Southern Command source told Haaretz: “Everyone knew by then that such vehicles could be carrying kidnapped civilians or soldiers… Everyone knew what it meant to not let any vehicles return to Gaza,” while adding that no vehicle known to carry captives was knowingly attacked.
• Haaretz further reported that in the afternoon the area around the border fence was to be turned into a “killing zone,” and that artillery was fired toward the fence area near Be’eri, Kfar Azza, and Kissufim in the evening; the IDF said it was unaware of civilians hurt in those bombardments.

Haaretz emphasized that it did not know whether, or how many, soldiers and civilians were harmed as a result of these orders — a caution repeated in the Guardian’s coverage. Separately, the Times of Israel noted a November 2023 Haaretz report that a small number of civilians may have been injured by helicopter fire while fleeing the Nova festival; Israeli police denied that report, and — as above — the UN Commission could not confirm helicopter fire on civilians near the festival.

In September 2024, ABC News (Australia) published its own investigation, recording on-camera accounts from Israeli officers: former Air Force colonel Nof Erez described October 7 as “a mass Hannibal… thousands of people in every type of vehicle, some with hostages and some without,” and tank captain Bar Zonshein described ordering fire on vehicles heading toward Gaza that may have carried captured Israeli soldiers. +972 Magazine, reviewing the accumulated reporting in August 2024, stated that “investigations have confirmed that senior commanders employed the infamous ‘Hannibal directive,’ permitting Israeli forces to endanger the lives of hostages in order to prevent them from being kidnapped alive.”

2025: the defense minister’s admission and the IDF’s air force probe

In February 2025, former defense minister Yoav Gallant — in office on October 7 — told Israel’s Channel 12, in his first interview after his dismissal, that the Hannibal Directive order was issued that day: “Tactically, in some places it was given, and in other places it was not, and that is a problem,” as reported by The Electronic Intifada and NDTV. He did not contest the interviewer’s characterization of the directive as shooting to kill when a vehicle contains an Israeli hostage.

Also in February 2025, the Jerusalem Post reported on the IDF’s internal air force probe: the air force acknowledged carrying out the “Hannibal Directive” — described as gunning down anything that moved around the Gaza border — while simultaneously running a newly revealed operation, “Sword of Damocles,” against Hamas commanders deep in Gaza. The probe found many pilots were reluctant to fire where hostages might be hit even after the directive was issued, and recorded roughly 945 air attacks that day, with helicopters firing some 11,000 times.

What is not established

• No credible investigation has put a total figure on Israelis killed by Israeli fire on October 7. The UN Commission’s verified cases involve up to 14 civilians plus the tank-crew incident; Haaretz said the number is unknown. Figures of “hundreds” circulated by some commentators are not supported by the UN, Human Rights Watch, or the Israeli investigations cited here.
• The UN Commission could not confirm that helicopters fired on civilians or civilian cars at or near the Nova festival; Israeli police denied the November 2023 Haaretz report suggesting festivalgoers may have been hit.
• Forensic accounting is likely impossible in many cases: both the UN Commission and Human Rights Watch documented that Israeli authorities did not collect forensic evidence at the attack sites, prioritizing rapid identification and burial.

Key resources

• Haaretz: IDF ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to prevent Hamas taking soldiers captive (July 7, 2024)
• Times of Israel: IDF officers invoked defunct ‘Hannibal Protocol’ during Oct. 7 fighting — report
• The Guardian: IDF used protocol that may have risked civilian lives in Hamas attack (July 7, 2024)
• UN Commission of Inquiry report A/HRC/56/26 (June 2024) and detailed findings A/HRC/56/CRP.3
• Human Rights Watch: “I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind” — Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel (July 2024)
• Ynet: The Air Force on Day 1 (October 15, 2023, Hebrew)
• Yedioth Ahronoth: Prevent terrorists returning to Gaza “at all costs,” even with hostages (January 10, 2024, Hebrew)
• New York Times: A General’s Account of Oct. 7 Battle for Be’eri Stirs Debate in Israel (December 27, 2023)
• ABC News (Australia): Israeli forces accused of killing their own citizens under the ‘Hannibal Directive’ (September 2024)
• Jerusalem Post: IDF carried out Hannibal Directive alongside new ‘Sword of Damocles’ on October 7 (February 2025)
• Jerusalem Post: IDF Gen. Hiram cleared of charge of blowing up hostages along with Hamas on Oct. 7 (July 2024)