Hamas attacks and hostage treatment in Gaza crimes against humanity, Amnesty says

Palestinian armed groups committed crimes against humanity during the 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel and in their subsequent treatment of hostages, Amnesty International concluded in a report published on Thursday.

The human rights organisation said Hamas-led militants carried out war crimes including murder, torture, hostage-taking and sexual violence during the attacks that killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

"Through its research findings and legal analysis, Amnesty International has concluded that Palestinian armed groups committed violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and crimes against humanity," the report stated.

Hamas, including its military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, bore primary responsibility for the violations, according to the organisation.

Other groups including Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were responsible to a lesser extent, as were some unaffiliated Palestinian civilians from Gaza.

Widespread and sistematic

Some 1,200 people were killed during the attacks, most of them civilians, including at least 36 children. Victims included Jewish Israelis, Bedouin citizens of Israel, and foreign national migrant workers, students and asylum seekers.

Another 251 people were forcibly taken to Gaza on 7 October 2023. The majority were seized alive and held in captivity for weeks, months or in some cases over two years, while 36 were reportedly already dead when captured.

Hamas has claimed its forces did not target or mistreat civilians during the attacks, asserting that Israeli fire caused many civilian deaths and denying it planned to seize civilians as hostages.

However, Amnesty said that "based on extensive video, testimonial and other evidence" the vast majority of those who died were killed by Hamas-led militants.

The organisation documented evidence that some of those captured on 7 October were subjected to physical and sexual violence, either in Israel or in Gaza, though it said it was unable to determine the extent of sexual violence.

All those taken to Gaza were unlawfully detained as hostages and subjected to psychological abuse, according to the report.

Amnesty said the overwhelming number of civilian locations targeted, statements from Hamas leaders, the repeated pattern of attacks deliberately targeting civilians, and the fact that most killed, injured or abducted were civilians, all pointed to the conclusion that the attack was directed against a civilian population.

Evidence collected and analysed by Amnesty International ... points to Hamas leaders intending to carry out an attack on civilians, as well as on military targets, in Israel and to take hostages," the report stated.

The attack was both widespread and systematic, with prohibited acts committed in civilian communities throughout areas surrounding Gaza, Amnesty found.

In statements made on and after 7 October 2023, Hamas leaders said civilian communities in Israel, including kibbutzim, were among the intended targets of the attack, according to the report.

The organisation concluded that violations documented included the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment and torture, taking of hostages, attacks on civilians, pillage, rape and sexual violence, attacks on civilian objects, and enforced disappearance.

More than 4,000 people were injured and hundreds of homes and civilian structures were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. Tens of thousands of residents from the attacked areas were displaced, with thousands remaining displaced more than two years later.

To date, no one has been brought to justice for the crimes committed during the 7 October 2023 attacks, Amnesty said.

The first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire that began on 10 October has neared completion, with disputes over Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal threatening to derail the fragile truce's second stage.