Hamas led other Palestinian armed groups in committing hundreds of war crimes in the surprise October 7 attack on Israel that set off the Gaza war, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday (July 17). Hamas rejected the findings, calling on HRW to withdraw the report and apologize.

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Palestinian armed groups crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, resulting in a deadly attack on Israeli civilians. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report detailing that hundreds of war crimes were committed during the incursion. The violations of international humanitarian law included deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, willful killings, cruel treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation, despoiling or robbing bodies, using human shields, and pillaging.

HRW identifies the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas as the orchestrator of the attack, with other groups like Islamic Jihad also committing war crimes. The report notes that 815 civilians were killed according to HRW's findings, while Israeli data puts the number at 1,195. Of the individuals abducted during the attack, 116 are still held in Gaza, with 42 declared dead by the Israeli army.

Israel's subsequent military response in Gaza has resulted in more than 38,700 deaths, mostly civilians, including approximately 14,000 children. Hamas has rejected the HRW findings, demanding the withdrawal of the report and an apology from the NGO.



Hamas committed 'hundreds' of war crimes on October 7, HRW says

On the 7th of October 2023, Palestinian armed groups crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, carrying out the worst attack on Israeli civilians in history. Nine months later, the NGO Human Rights Watch has published a report on the incursion. It found that hundreds of war crimes were committed that day. Based on an in-depth investigation, it focuses on violations of international humanitarian law, giving a grim inventory of the crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups that day, including deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, willful killing of persons in custody, cruel and other inhumane treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation and despoiling or robbing of bodies, the use of human shields and pillage and looting. Human Rights Watch also lists crimes against humanity, saying the intentional killing and hostage-taking of civilians was planned and highly coordinated. The report identifies the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas as the orchestrator of the attack, but names several other armed groups that committed war crimes on October 7th, including Islamic Jihad. The reality is that it really wasn't civilians from Gaza who perpetrated the worst abuses. That was a claim made very early on by Hamas to distance itself from the events and by Israel to justify its retaliation operation. In its report, Human Rights Watch says that over 815 civilians were killed in the incursion, while according to Israeli data, 1,195 people lost their lives. Of the 251 people abducted that day, 116 are still being held in Gaza, 42 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army. Israel's reprisal, airstrikes and ground invasion in Gaza has so far killed more than 38,700 people. Most were civilians, including some 14,000 children. Hamas has reacted angrily to the report, demanding that the NGO withdraw it and apologise.

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