Ryan Grim: leaked footage shows officials "basically saying just do it" even if abducted Israelis are hit
Ryan GrimCo-host, Breaking Points; co-founder, Drop Site News
On Breaking Points, Ryan Grim said leaked footage from an Israeli command room on October 7 shows officials accepting that abducted Israelis could be hit, and that a tank shelled a kibbutz house with hostages inside.
“Now we have this footage of them basically saying just do it, and if you hit the people who, the Israelis who were abducted, that's part of it.”
Original video
Where this statement fits
Did Israeli forces kill Israelis under the Hannibal Directive on October 7?
On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attackers struck southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel that day and about 250 were taken hostage into Gaza. In July 2024, Haaretz reported that documents and testimony show the Israeli military used the Hannibal procedure, which directs force to stop soldiers from being taken captive, at three army sites that day. The detailed findings of a UN commission of inquiry say Israeli fire likely killed at least 14 Israeli civilians in two incidents. The IDF has said a helicopter likely killed Efrat Katz of Kibbutz Nir Oz and that tank shrapnel highly likely killed one hostage outside a house in Kibbutz Be'eri, and it has defended the decisions of its commanders. Former defense minister Yoav Gallant said in February 2025 that he thinks an order to apply the procedure was given tactically in some places and not in others. The dispute is over whether, and how often, Israeli forces fired on Israeli captives that day, and how many Israelis that fire killed. The record also covers hostages later killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, including three who were shot in Shejaiya in December 2023 after escaping their captors.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Breaking Points segment in which Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky discuss footage from an Israeli command room on October 7. Quotations were transcribed from the video, with repeated words removed.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Earlier in the segment Grim read a translation of a line from the footage: "No, on Gaza, break it all apart along with the soldiers who were abducted." He said: "we have other evidence of there being hostage situations in a kibbutz where they just, with a tank, shell everyone in there," killing the Israelis inside. Co-host Emily Jashinsky then asked whether the government had admitted this in a small way.
After the quotation
He continued: "This is the so-called Hannibal doctrine." The line he read from the footage refers to abducted soldiers. The IDF's July 2024 Be'eri inquiry found that tank shrapnel killed one hostage at Pessi Cohen's house and that most of the hostages there were likely killed by the fighters.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Israeli fire on October 7, 2023, under or in the manner of the Hannibal Directive, that put Israeli captives at risk of being killed by Israeli forces. Grim asserts that Israeli forces knowingly fired on Israelis, including hostages, and presents the footage as evidence of a Hannibal-style order, which condemns the conduct. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, but he states the claims without qualification.
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More from this case
Read the full casePolitiFact says it has not revisited related claims and its Nova video rating stands
PolitiFact
“We have not gone back and looked at related claims, and the rating stands.”Read statement
IDF points to its published October 7 investigations and declines further comment
Israel Defense Forces
“The IDF has published investigations concerning its conduct on October 7th, and beyond that, we will not comment.”Read statement
Michael Starr: under the directive, soldiers fire "at risk to friendlies, not at friendlies"
“The directive is a removal of safeties that come with the use of live fire, as Americans may be familiar with danger close mortar or artillery strikes. Fire is directed at hostiles, not at hostages, but the safety protocols are essentially removed. You are shooting at risk to friendlies, not at friendlies.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Ryan Grim: leaked footage shows officials "basically saying just do it" even if abducted Israelis are hit". First published: 2026-10-07. Last updated: 2026-10-07. https://disputeindex.com/events/5165-on-breaking-points-ryan-grim-said-leaked-footage