An elderly Israeli woman abducted by Hamas during the group’s surprise attack last year was likely gunned down by an IDF helicopter, an internal probe concluded. To date, Tel Aviv has offered few details about other captives who may have been killed in friendly fire incidents.
The 67-year-old resident of the Nir Oz Kibbutz, Efrat Katz, was taken hostage during Hamas’ assault last October. Footage of the kidnapping showed the woman stuffed into the bed of a truck alongside her daughter and two grandchildren.
In an internal Israeli military probe published on Friday, the IDF admitted it had “failed to protect civilians” during its response at Nir Oz.
“It appears that during the battles and the airstrikes, one of the combat helicopters that took part in the fighting fired at a vehicle that had terrorists in it, and, in retrospect, according to the evidence, it turned out that there were also hostages in it,” the probe concluded. “As a result of the shooting, most of the terrorists manning the vehicles were killed, and apparently the late Efrat Katz.”
However, the military went on to say that because the captives could not be distinguished from Hamas fighters, the helicopter crew was not to blame for the woman’s death. From the perspective of the airmen, the report said, they were merely “shooting at a vehicle with terrorists.”
Katz’s daughter and two grandchildren survived the attack and were later released as part of a November hostage deal with Hamas, according to Al Jazeera. More than 200 people were taken captive by the armed group on October 7, with around half freed under the exchange agreed last year.
Will Porter is assistant news editor at the Libertarian Institute and a regular contributor at Antiwar.com. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.
Is it a confession or a statement…?!
The IDF massacred around 400 Israelis that day.
It’s simply propaganda, a confession of sorts, that redirects peoples questions about the hannibal directive. We know, many have heard of it, but this puts an end to speculation…they’ve admitted the absolute minimum.
They have not admitted their foreknowledge of the attacks to come. There was no way they did not know. The attacks were the trigger for the “final solution”, and to perhaps keep Netanyahu out of jail.
Translation: “Sorry, but it was worth it”.
“It appears that during the battles and the airstrikes, one of the combat helicopters that took part in the fighting fired at a vehicle that had terrorists in it, and, in retrospect, according to the evidence, it turned out that there were also hostages in it,” the probe concluded. “As a result of the shooting, most of the terrorists manning the vehicles were killed, and apparently the late Efrat Katz.”
That “probe” implies that was an isolated incident. It wasn’t.
Of course, they covered their asses with this:
However, the military went on to say that because the captives could not be distinguished from Hamas fighters, the helicopter crew was not to blame for the woman’s death. From the perspective of the airmen, the report said, they were merely “shooting at a vehicle with terrorists.”
Which they did repeatedly and with tank rounds too.
It would help Israelis to recognize that they aren’t special. They aren’t chosen. They are dispensable like Palestinians to the power of Zionist imperialism and empire.
They should be reminded of the Hungarian brethren in WWII.
Clearly the Zionist don’t care about Israelis or the hostages. Then again, they don’t realize that they’re actually destroying the future for all Israelis. but on a positive note, the whole world now knows that there’s a big difference between the Jewish people and Zionists. Hopefully this leads to the end of the zionist blood baths, which could lead to peaceful coexistence again.
This goes back to a question I posed a week or so ago: How does the IDF distinguish Hamas “terrorists” from regular Palestinians or Israelis? Are they using the American system i.e. If we killed them, they were bad guys.
The Hannibal Directive
The Hannibal Directive was a top-secret military order used by the Israeli army.
First devised in 1986 by three senior army commanders, it stipulated measures to be taken when an Israeli soldier was captured during combat. Its purpose was to prevent the enemy from escaping with that soldier, even if it meant endangering the soldier’s life and the lives of civilians in the vicinity.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/featured-documentaries/2016/10/7/the-hannibal-directive/
What’s Israel’s Hannibal Directive? A former Israeli soldier tells all
“You will open fire without constraints, in order to prevent the abduction,” he said, adding that the use of force is carried out even at the risk of killing a captive soldier.
In addition to firing at the abductors, soldiers can fire at junctions, roads, highways and other pathways opponents may take a kidnapped soldier through, Shaul said.
The Israeli military has denied the interpretation of the directive that allows for the killing of their fellow troops, but Israeli soldiers, including Shaul, have understood it as a license to do just that, as it is preferred to a scenario in which a soldier is taken prisoner.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/3/whats-the-hannibal-directive-a-former-israeli-soldier-tells-all
Kissinger’s motto: kill anything that moves.
I think Obama started a policy that any male killed over the age of 18 was deemed a “militant”. Subsequent administrations continued (Trump & Biden) this policy.
Nawar al-Awlaki was neither male nor over age of 18. She was just an eight-year-old American girl murdered by US Navy SEALS on orders originating with Obama and confirmed by Trump.
If Hamas didn’t invade, the elder would still be alive along with many more thousands.
This war is on Hamas and they deserve all the heat coming their way.
Going medieval on Israel came in the form of a boomerang.
And im pretty sure 7 October is not getting a part 2.
If Palestine had not been under occupation for 75 years, as well as under a brutal blockade for 16 years, Hamas would not have been born in a refugee camp, learned from the violence inflicted by Israel to decide to do something to grab the world’s attention. The acts of the young Hamas fighters triggered the Zionist colonial power to react, as did the British during the Boer Wars, and other instances of brutality of occupation forces. Their acts were instrumental in getting the Zionists to lift the mask off, expose what they really are, much like the Nat Turner rebellion. History did not begin on 7Oct, and you know it. Bounce this off your mental partners, Tim Burns, jake. Type away…….
I don’t think people like him care much for history.
The history of Hamas cannot be written without the midwiving their birth by Israel and subsequent supporting them by Netanyahu personally and Likud precisely to pursue their divide et empera policy against the Palestinians. That is about their level of cleverness. It is not exactly a secret. Not even for the Western legacy media.
If Hamas would ever cease to exist the Israeli would have to invent them anew. Not the existence of Hamas but the existence of Palestinians is what bothers Israel. The extermination of Palestinians is the goal here. It always was. The perceived oppertunity to execute it with much greater speed is what excites the Israeli, ‘moderates’ and ‘extremists’ alike. The Israeli are doing their utmost advertising exactly that. In political, military and theological terms, with sing and dance. The reality of what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank do not leave room for any alternative explanation.
On top of that cesspool there float the ultimate lukewarm turds who are making up excuses, the worst stench emanating of those dutifully deploring excesses within a genocide.
Since october 7th in Gaza the Israeli murdered 33175 Palestians, of which more than 13000 children, toddlers and babies. 8400 women, they injured 75886 Palestians, most of them maimed for life. And some 8000 were never even found again.
I don’t really see why the Israeli should give a damn about the killing of a single old woman or for that matter in the scheme of things a couple of hundreds of them. That makes it almost seem like she’s of a superior race or something.
When is the IDF going to admit to killing the other 399 as well???
One down and one thousand one hundred and ninety-nine to own up to..