Human Rights Watch Says Hamas-Led Armed Groups Committed War Crimes During October 7 Attack in Southern Israel

A Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday says Hamas-led armed groups committed “numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity” against civilians during the October 7 attack in southern Israel.

“Global rights group finds Hamas-led militants committed war crimes on Oct”

Associated Press

The report, a 236-page study titled “‘I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind’: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel,” says the October 7 attack was “directed against a civilian population,” and that “killing civilians and taking hostages were central aims of the planned attack, not an afterthought, a plan gone awry, or isolated acts.”

Associated Press

Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at HRW, said: “The Hamas-led assault on October 7 was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostage.”

CNN reports that the assault was led by Hamas’ military wing—the Qassam Brigades—but included at least four other Palestinian armed groups, according to the report.

CNN also says HRW detailed “several dozen cases of serious violations of international humanitarian law” by Palestinian armed groups at most civilian attack sites on October 7, when militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

The CNN account adds that HRW said it interviewed 144 people, including 94 Israeli and other nationals, who witnessed the October 7 assault, which targeted at least 19 kibbutzim and five moshavim, as well as the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, two music festivals, and a beach party.

HRW’s report also says “The armed groups committed numerous violations of the laws of war that amount to war crimes,” including “attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects, willful killing of people in custody, cruel and other inhumane treatment.”

HRW’s findings, as described by CNN and Human Rights Watch itself, portray a coordinated set of attacks across multiple civilian sites in southern Israel, including social events and residential communities.

CNN says HRW highlighted “crimes involving sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation and despoiling bodies, use of human shields, and pillage and looting,” and it reports that Israel and the United Nations have accused Hamas-led militants of committing sexual violence on October 7.

CNN

CNN also quotes HRW’s description of the assault’s aims, saying “killing civilians and taking hostages were central aims of the planned attack,” and it adds that HRW said it interviewed 144 people and verified and analyzed evidence from the attack.

The Human Rights Watch text says the 236-page report documents “several dozen cases of serious violations of international humanitarian law” by Palestinian armed groups at nearly all the civilian attack sites on October 7.

It states that between October 2023 and June 2024, HRW interviewed 144 people, including 94 Israeli and other nationals, and it says researchers “verified and analyzed over 280 photographs and videos taken during the assault and posted on social media or shared directly with Human Rights Watch.”

HRW’s account also says the armed groups attacked at least 19 kibbutzim and 5 moshavim, the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, 2 music festivals, and a beach party, and that “The fighting lasted much of the day and in some cases longer.”

In the Human Rights Watch text, a nurse from Kibbutz Be’eri, Nirit Hunwald, describes the aftermath inside the kibbutz’s dental clinic, saying: “There was a blood trail. I cannot erase it from my mind, all the blood.”

The HRW report’s treatment of sexual violence is presented with both allegations and limits on verification in the CNN and Los Angeles Times accounts.

“- Hamas-led armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the October 7 assault on southern Israel”

Human Rights Watch

CNN says the report highlighted “crimes involving sexual and gender-based violence,” and it reports that in March the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said her team found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape occurred” that day.

CNN adds that it was the UN’s “most definitive finding on allegations of sexual assault in the aftermath of the attack,” and it notes that several first responders who attended the scenes told CNN in December that the attacks were “overwhelmingly gruesome” and that some female victims were found undressed.

By contrast, the Los Angeles Times says HRW’s researchers were “unable to independently verify claims of sexual violence and rape” and that they relied on the special U.N. envoy’s report finding “reasonable grounds.”

The Los Angeles Times also quotes Belkis Wille saying the militants’ crime against humanity stemmed from a “widespread attack directed against a civilian population,” and it frames HRW’s focus as limited to the October 7 attack rather than the subsequent war.

In the Associated Press account, HRW is described as saying the militants committed a crime against humanity because they launched a “widespread attack directed against a civilian population,” and it repeats that HRW’s 230-page report focuses only on the October 7 attacks and does not examine actions taken by Hamas or Israel during the subsequent war.

The Los Angeles Times further says HRW observed video of fighters, including those in civilian clothes with no military insignias, communicating with walkie-talkies and taking orders from commanders, leading HRW to conclude that the fighters who carried out the worst abuses belonged to armed factions.

Hamas rejected HRW’s findings, and CNN reports that the group called for the report to be withdrawn and apologized for.

CNN says Hamas rejected the findings of the report and called for it to be retracted, according to a statement on Wednesday, adding: “We reject the lies and blatant bias towards the occupation and the lack of professionalism and credibility in the Human Rights Watch report. We demand its withdrawal and an apology,” the Palestinian group said.

Los Angeles Times

CNN also reports that HRW said Hamas responded to its questions stating that its forces were instructed not to target civilians and to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law, but that “In many cases, Human Rights Watch investigations found evidence to the contrary.”

The Los Angeles Times provides additional detail on the Hamas response, saying that in a nine-page response to the HRW report, Hamas said the Qassam Brigades planned and led the Oct. 7 attack, not the Hamas political movement, and that fighters were instructed not to target civilians.

The Los Angeles Times then states that HRW said the Hamas response was “false” and that “the intentional killing and hostage-taking of civilians was planned and highly coordinated.”

The Associated Press account similarly says HRW said the Hamas response “false” and quotes HRW’s characterization that “the intentional killing and hostage-taking of civilians was planned and highly coordinated.”

HRW’s own release frames the assault as coordinated and directed against civilians, stating that “Killing civilians and taking hostages were central aims of the planned attack, not an afterthought, a plan gone awry, or isolated acts.”

CNN connects HRW’s October 7 findings to the ongoing war in Gaza, saying that in response to the October 7 attack Israel launched an air and ground offensive on Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 people in the enclave, according to Palestinian authorities.

“Global rights group finds Hamas-led militants committed war crimes on Oct”

Associated Press

CNN says the war has displaced almost all of Gaza’s population of 2 million, turned swathes of the territory into rubble, and triggered a massive humanitarian crisis, while also noting that HRW previously addressed alleged serious violations by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 7.

Associated Press

CNN reports that HRW called on all parties involved in the conflict to abide by international humanitarian law, and it quotes HRW’s demand that “The Palestinian armed groups in Gaza should immediately and unconditionally release civilians held hostage,” while adding that both parties “should surrender for prosecution anyone facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.”

CNN also says that in May the ICC said it was seeking arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among other Israeli and Hamas officials, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza.

The CNN account further says a case is being heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over an accusation by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in its war in Gaza, and it quotes Sawyer: “Atrocities do not justify atrocities.”

The Associated Press similarly reports that more than 38,400 people have been killed in Israeli ground offensives and bombardments in Gaza since the war began, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, and it notes that the ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

In HRW’s own release, the organization calls on governments with influence over the armed groups to press for the urgent release of all civilian hostages, describing that as “an ongoing war crime,” and it says those responsible should be brought to justice.