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The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), an NGO traditionally not sympathetic to Israel, confirmed war crimes committed by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups on October 7 in a recent report. HRW concluded that it found that Gazans from these groups violated international humanitarian law, 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 (robbing) of bodies; use of human shields; and pillage and looting.” HRW cites statistics from Agence France-Presse (AFP), which according to HRW “…carried out a detailed process to verify numbers,” stating that 815 out of the total 1,195 deaths from the October 7 attack were civilian deaths.
According to the report, HRW conducted on-the-ground research in Israel in October and November 2023, and then did remote research through June 2024. HRW interviewed a total of 144 people, including 94 survivors of the October 7 attacks. HRW was able to verify over 280 videos and photographs from the attack, including those secured from body, CCTV, cellphone and dashboard cameras. Key findings are below.
Deliberate, planned murder of civilians. The report found that Palestinian terrorists “summarily executed individuals in their custody.” “The killings of civilians appear planned,” according to HRW, “because of the many similarities in how killings took place across the attack sites: the armed groups directed many of their attacks at residential areas, fighters began to shoot civilians immediately after the assault began at 6:30 a.m., and the armed groups’ audio recordings and videos of the assault posted on their Telegram channels were indicative of a modus operandi.” The report also indicated that while Hamas later stated that they had told the attackers to spare women, children, and civilians, this claim was “contradicted by events” and “false.” Rather, survivor testimony as well as videos and photos showed “…that the intentional killing and hostage-taking of civilians was planned and highly coordinated.”
Deliberate, planned hostage taking. According to HRW, Hamas itself admitted that taking hostages was one of their main objectives. The Qassam Brigades (a Hamas group) and other terrorist groups took a total of 251 people hostage on October 7, 39 of which were children. HRW stated that as of July 1, 116 hostages remained in Gaza, but at least 42 of those are deceased.
Rape and sexual assault. The report also stated that the office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, based on interviews with witnesses, concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the October 7 attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.” Additionally, the report cited a second investigation, conducted by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, which concluded in its June 2024 report that it had “documented cases indicative of sexual violence perpetrated against women and men in and around the Nova festival site, as well as the Nahal Oz military outpost and several kibbutzim, including Kfar Aza, Re’im and Nir Oz,” and had also “found indications that members of the military wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed gender-based violence (GBV) in several locations in southern Israel on 7 October.”
Evidence of coordination among terrorist groups. According to HRW, at least five terrorist groups took part in the October 7 attacks. These included: the Qassam Brigades (of Hamas), the Quds Brigades (of Palestinian Islamic Jihad), the National Resistance Brigades (of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine), the National Resistance Brigades or Omar al-Qasim Forces (of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)); the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), and the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which according to the report is “formerly linked to the Fatah political faction.”
While the report recognized the participation of several terrorist groups other than Hamas, it stated that the Qassam Brigades (Hamas) “led the attack and was the most active armed group” during the attack, and was responsible for 10 or the 13 border breaches documented by HRW. The report also mentioned a “Joint Operations Room” formed in 2018 for various Palestinian terror groups to coordinate attacks on Israel. By September 2023, this Joint Operations Room included ten Palestinian terror groups: the Qassam Brigades, the Quds Brigades, Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, National Resistance Brigades, the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, Mujahideen Brigades, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades—Martyr Nidal Al-Amoudi Brigade, Martyr Jihad Jibril Brigades, and the Ansar Brigades. The report also found that Palestinian terror groups coordinated planning attacks in four separate rehearsals, known as “Strong Pillar,” and that ten groups (slightly different from the list above, but also including the Qassam Brigades) also participated in those drills.
The report also found that Hamas’ claims that Israelis killed “settlers” or that much of the destruction from October 7 was caused by the Israeli military were unfounded.
