War crimes committed by Hamas, rights group finds

Human Rights Watch says 7 October slaughter of civilians was planned and not isolated acts’ in 236-page report

- BEL TREW

The Hamas-led attack inside Israel on 7 October was "designed" and "planned" to kill civilians and take as many people hostage as possible, a leading human rights group has said.

In a 236-page report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) concludes that Palestinian armed factions committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, sexual violence, mutilation of bodies, and use of human shields.

The global rights group says its teams interviewed almost 150 witnesses, first responders and family members for the research and verified more than 280 photos and videos for the investigation. They described fighters shooting directly at civilians as they tried to flee, firing rocket-propelled grenades at homes, setting fire to buildings with people inside, and mutilating and robbing corpses.

HRW concluded that killing civilians and taking hostages were the “central aims” of the planned attack “not an afterthought, a plan gone awry or isolated act”. Hamas has denied its fighters committed any violations of international law and blamed the bloodshed on “chaos in the field”.

“Human Rights Watch research found that the Hamas-led assault on 7 October was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostage,” said Ida Sawyer, HRW’s crisis and conflict director. “The 7 October atrocities should spur a global call to action for an end to all abuses against civilians in Israel and Palestine.”

HRW noted that its previous reports have addressed numerous war crimes committed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the attacks, including apparent illegal strikes and using starvation as a weapon of war.