Palestinian killed as Israel uses Hannibal Directive in refugee camp

Mourners carry the body of 22-year-old Iyad Omar Sajadiyya during his funeral in Qalandiya refugee camp on 1 March after the university student was shot in the head by Israeli forces who raided the camp to extricate two soldiers.Shadi HatemAPA images

Palestinians stand next to the remains of an Israeli military vehicle that was destroyed by a firebomb in Qalandiya refugee camp the night before. Two Israeli soldiers became separated from one another after the vehicle was destroyed and the army employed what is known as the Hannibal Directive to prevent soldiers from being captured alive.Shadi HatemAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy-1 March 2016

A Palestinian was killed when Israeli forces deployed the so-called Hannibal Directive to extract two of its soldiers who had mistakenly entered Qalandiya refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight Monday.

The Hannibal Directive is an Israeli military protocol authorizing massive firepower to prevent a captured soldier from being taken alive.

“The initial investigation of the incident revealed that an army driver and squad commander from the Oketz unit entered the camp by mistake while using the Waze smartphone GPS navigational app,” the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz reported.

“The two separated after their vehicle was attacked in the camp, with the whereabouts of one being unknown for more than an hour. The Hannibal procedure was invoked during the search for the missing soldier,” Haaretzadded.

Iyad Omar Sajadiyya, a 22-year-old journalism student, was killed during fierce confrontations that broke out when Israeli forces raided the camp to extricate the two soldiers.

“Locals said that Palestinian gunmen held the two soldiers for three hours before an Israeli military helicopter evacuated them, although the Israeli army made no mention of gunmen,” the Ma’an News Agency reported.

“During the clashes, Sajadiyya was shot in the head, while another four Palestinians were shot with live ammunition and six with rubber-coated steel bullets. Two young men were also hit by high-velocity tear gas canisters,” Ma’an added.

Ten Israelis were reportedly injured during the raid and the two soldiers were extracted unharmed.

The last time the Hannibal Directive was employed was in August 2014, during Israel’s massive assault on Gaza that summer. Dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed when Israeli forces aimed at locations where they believed a missing soldier might have been held.

A joint investigation by Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture found “strong evidence” that Israel may have committed war crimes while attempting to kill its own soldier.

Two Palestinians were killed in Qalandiya refugee camp in November when Israeli forces raided to destroy the family home of Muhammad Abu Shahin, who was accused of killing an Israeli months earlier.

US citizen killed

Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian who reportedly held US citizenship on Friday.

Mahmoud Shaalan was slain at a checkpoint near the Beit El settlement in the occupied West Bank. The army claimed that Shaalan, from the West Bank village of Deir Dibwan near Ramallah, had attempted to stab soldiers. No Israelis were injured during the incident.

The Palestinian health ministry told media that the boy’s body was “riddled with bullets.”

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