Hamas and other groups committed war crimes on October 7

Hamas and at least four other Palestinian militant groups committed multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during their October 7 attack on southern Israel, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said.

A new report accuses hundreds of militants who breached the Gaza border fence of committing acts including deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, intentional killings of detainees, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation and looting.

The report also found that killing civilians and taking hostages was “the primary objective of the planned attack” and not “an afterthought”.

Hamas angrily rejected what it called HRW’s “lies” and demanded an apology.

Some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others taken hostage when more than 100 Israeli communities and towns, as well as several military bases, two music festivals and a beach party, were attacked nine months ago.

Israel responded by launching a military operation in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages.

More than 38,790 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants.

The HRW report does not address alleged violations of the laws of war by Israeli forces and Palestinian groups in the conflict that erupted after the October 7 attack.

The report was released by HRW on Wednesday. based on interviews with 144 people, including witnesses to the October 7 attack, as well as analysis of more than 280 photos and videos posted on social media or shared with the group’s researchers.

“On multiple attack sites, [Palestinian] “The militants fired directly at civilians, often at close range, as they attempted to flee, and at people who happened to be driving in the area,” the report said.

“They threw grenades and fired into safe rooms and other shelters and fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) into civilian homes. They set fire to some homes, burning and suffocating people to death, and forced others to leave, after which they captured or killed them,” the report added.

“They took hundreds of people hostage to transfer to Gaza or killed them immediately.”

Hamas’ armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, led the attack, but HRW said it had clear evidence of the involvement of at least four other Palestinian armed groups, based on the headbands worn by the gunmen and statements they made on social media:

• al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
• Omar al-Qasim Forces, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
• Abu Ali Mustafa Brigade, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with the Fatah movement

The BBC previously reported that they had taken part in military-style exercises with Hamas. from 2020 onwards very similar tactics were used on October 7.

The HRW report concluded that Palestinian groups had carried out a systematic and widespread attack on civilians, which constituted crimes against humanity, based on the multiple civilian sites targeted and the “planning of the crimes”.

The report also found that the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages “were the primary objectives of the planned attack, rather than occurring randomly, or as part of a plan gone awry, or as isolated acts, such as by unaffiliated Palestinians in Gaza, and as such, there is clear evidence of an organized policy to commit multiple crimes against humanity”.

The report said further investigation was needed into other potential crimes against humanity, including the persecution of any identifiable group on racial, national, ethnic or religious grounds; rape or sexual violence of comparable gravity; and genocide, if there was mass killing calculated to cause “extermination” of a population.

The report includes a letter from Hamas responding to the allegations, in which the group said it was “committed to respecting international law” and that the al-Qassam Brigades “has clearly instructed its members and fighters not to target civilians”.

Hamas also said the involvement of non-aligned Palestinians from Gaza and other armed groups not involved in the originally planned offensive had led to “chaos on the ground”, changes to “plans for conducting an operation against military targets” and “many mistakes”.

The report said HRW found Hamas’s claim that its forces did not seek to harm Israeli civilians to be “false,” noting that photos and videos showed gunmen searching for civilians and killing them at various locations from the first moments of the attack.

In a statement released after the report was published, Hamas said: “We reject the lies and blatant bias towards the occupying forces. [Israel] and the lack of professionalism and credibility in the Human Rights Watch report. We demand a retraction and apology.”

In a separate report in April, HRW says Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza on October 31 that killed 106 people was a war crimeIsrael says it tries to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of operating in civilian areas.

The group also accused the Israeli government of using civilian starvation as a method of warfare.This is a war crime. Israel says it facilitates the delivery of humanitarian aid and is not responsible for the food shortages in Gaza.

In May, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) applied for arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, military commander Mohammed Deif and political leader Ismail Haniyeh for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since October 7. He also sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Both Hamas and Israel reacted with outrage to the announcement.