But the Israeli military is coming under increasing pressure to reveal just how many of their own citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers, pilots and police in the confusion of the Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities.

Survivors and relatives have been asking not just "what went wrong", but whether the military invoked the controversial — and supposedly rescinded — "Hannibal Directive"...

The doctrine, written in 1986 in response to the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, gave permission for Israeli forces to fire on enemies holding their comrades hostage — even at risk to those hostages.

Its authors said the directive did not allow captives to be killed, but critics say that over time an interpretation spread through the military that it was better to kill comrades than to allow their capture.

The following quote can be attributed to Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch:

“Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps – objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use – precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today. The use of an explosive device whose exact location could not be reliably known would be unlawfully indiscriminate, using a means of attack that could not be directed at a specific military target and as a result would strike military targets and civilians without distinction. A prompt and impartial investigation into the attacks should be urgently conducted.”

Addressing Elie Mystal of The Nation, Reid mused that “the way he [Trump] desecrated Arlington National Cemetery would be caree-ending for a normal politician, his constant lies. But even this piece about saying, ‘Well, my building was the tallest until, you know, they brought down the World Trade Center. Now it’s the second tall-‘ I mean, everything he does is despicable.”

“The reason why it doesn’t end his career is because his supporters are just as despicable, all right?” replied Mystal. “Like Trump’s whole thing, he’s a narcissist, right? And so his whole thing is to have a complete lack of compassion and empathy for everybody else. It’s all about him.”

“That’s why he lies about 9/11. It’s all about him, him, him, me, me, me. He’s probably the least compassionate president we’ve had in 200 years since Andrew Jackson. And it works for him because his supporters are just as ungenerous and have just as little compassion and empathy for others,” he continued. “So when he is seen out there essentially, as you guys have put it, desecrating our national symbols, when he is seen out there putting himself above all else, his supporters also want that to be the case. They want to do that in their own lives. They want — that’s how they think of themselves and that’s why it never hurts Trump when he takes these crass and classless actions. It’s because his supporters think that being crass and classless is actually kind of cool.”

“Yeah, and they also — he hates the people they hate,” agreed Reid. “So when he makes up this idea that these Muslims in New Jersey were cheering and they’re Americans in New Jersey cheering supposedly for the towers to come down, he’s like, ‘Well, yeah, because my supporters don’t like them.