Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and at least four other Palestinian armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday.
The report urges governments with influence over the armed groups to press for the urgent release of civilian hostages, an ongoing war crime, and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
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Residential home in Kibbutz Be'eri destroyed in October 7 attack
(Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg)
The 236-page report, titled “‘I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind’: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel,” details numerous serious violations of international humanitarian law by Palestinian armed groups at almost all civilian attack sites on October 7. These violations include war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as murder, hostage-taking and other grave offenses. Human Rights Watch also investigated the roles of various armed groups and their coordination before and during the attacks.
“Human Rights Watch research found that the Hamas-led assault on October 7 was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostage,” said Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “The October 7 atrocities should spur a global call to action for an end to all abuses against civilians in Israel and Palestine.”
The report compiles interviews with dozens of people who witnessed the October 7 assault, as well as verified footage taken during the attack, which illustrate the magnitude of the crimes committed by Hamas-led Palestinian groups in their attacks on civilian residential communities, social events and Israeli military bases in southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, "Palestinian fighters fired directly at civilians, often at close range, as they tried to flee, and at people driving through the area. The attackers hurled grenades, shot into shelters, and fired rocket-propelled grenades at homes. They set houses on fire, burning and choking people, and forcing out others whom they shot or captured. They took dozens hostage and summarily killed others."
An AFP analysis determined that 815 of the 1,195 people killed on October 7 were civilians. The armed groups took 251 civilians and Israeli security force personnel as hostages and took them to Gaza. As of July 1, 116 remained in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 42 who had been killed, according to AFP. Bodies of another 35 who were killed were returned to Israel.
Further investigation is needed into other potential crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said, including persecution against any identifiable group on racial, national, ethnic, or religious grounds; rape or other sexual violence of comparable gravity; and extermination, if there was a mass killing calculated to bring about the “destruction” of part of a population. These would amount to crimes against humanity if the crimes were part of the attack against a civilian population, under an organizational policy to commit such an attack, the report notes.
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Abandoned vehicles at a junction near Sderot amid Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on October 7
(Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Hamas authorities responded to questions from Human Rights Watch, stating that its forces were instructed not to target civilians and to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law. In many cases, Human Rights Watch investigations found evidence to the contrary.
Accounts from survivors along with verified photographs and videos show Palestinian fighters seeking out civilians and killing them across the attack sites from the moment the assault began, indicating that the intentional killing and hostage-taking of civilians was planned and highly coordinated.