An HRW report concludes that five Palestinian groups led by Hamas took part in the October 7 attack | International

Hamas’ military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and at least four other Palestinian armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published in …

The military wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and at least four other Palestinian armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published this Wednesday. This humanitarian organization therefore demands that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague take into account not only Hamas, but also the rest of the factions when investigating the events. The action was planned in advance and “extremely coordinated” so that hundreds of militias, after breaking through the border fence from the Gaza side or arriving by sea or paraglider, entered at least 26 civilian areas in southern Israel, such as communities in the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, and music festivals.

The aim of that day was to kill civilians and capture as many as possible, says Ida Sawyer, director of crisis and conflict at HRW, in the text. According to the report, Palestinian fighters fired directly at civilians, often at close range and as they tried to escape or were simply passing through the area. The attackers also threw grenades, fired at shelters and used grenade launchers against houses. They also set fire to houses, burning and suffocating people, and forced others to leave and then shot or captured them. This NGO has also documented summary executions.

In addition to Hamas, members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad (Al Quds Brigade), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Omar Al Qassim Brigade), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigade) and the Fatah Party (Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade). They were identified according to the badges worn by the fighters and an analysis of the demands published by each group on social networks. One of the conclusions of the report is that “it was not actually the citizens of Gaza who committed the worst abuses,” he told a meeting Online Belkis Wiley was the Deputy Director of HRW’s Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division and one of the authors of the field investigation prior to the report’s publication.

According to HRW, they committed numerous violations of the laws of war that constitute war crimes, including attacks against civilians and civilian objects; deliberate killing of persons in custody; cruel and other inhumane treatment; crimes of sexual and gender-based violence; hostage taking; mutilation and dismemberment of bodies; use of human shields; and looting.”

In any case, the report says, “it is necessary to further investigate other possible crimes against humanity” such as “persecution against any identifiable group for racial, national, ethnic or religious reasons; rape or other sexual violence of comparable severity; and extermination.”

“The atrocities of October 7 should spark a global call for action to stop all abuses against civilians in Israel and Palestine,” says Ida Sauer. At the moment, the two opposing sides are still trying to ensure a ceasefire with the help of international negotiators in Egypt and Qatar. Throughout the war, there has been only one week-long ceasefire, the last in November.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has insisted that the state will not investigate what happened until the war is over, and only then will the details of the security failure that allowed Hamas to launch the attack be fully known and those responsible held accountable. Erez Price, the father of soldier Noah Price, expressed his disagreement with the president’s refusal to open an investigation during a meeting with relatives of military victims of the Hamas attack last Tuesday, according to the newspaper Haaretz,

The attacks of that day, with nearly 1,200 deaths among civilians and military and around 250 hostages, were the worst attacks of this kind that Israel has suffered in its 76-year history and, moreover, a trigger for the current conflict, in which more than 38,700 people have already been killed in Gaza due to attacks by Jewish state troops. HRW calls on governments with the power to influence these armed groups to press for the immediate release of civilian hostages, whose capture is a war crime, and that those responsible must be brought to justice.

Investigation “I can’t wipe all the blood off my mind”: attacks on Israel by Palestinian armed groups on October 7The report, 236 pages long and for which 144 people were interviewed, 94 of whom were witnesses, documents dozens of cases of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Palestinian attackers. These include war crimes and crimes against humanity.

HRW has reported many of the more serious violations committed by Israeli troops in Gaza during the conflict in recent months as “war crimes”, representing a worse form of “collective punishment” of the blockade of the territory that Gazans have suffered for some time. Who else joins in is 17 years old?Apartheid And oppression.” One of the NGO’s leaders told EL PAÍS last month that Israel was blocking access to independent investigations inside the Strip. “Atrocities do not justify atrocities,” Sawyer said, referring to the endless cycle of violence in the region.

captive soldiers

While the NGO’s report calls for the immediate and unconditional release of civilian hostages, it distinguishes them from the October 7 military detainees, who are also present, although HRW has not investigated attacks on military targets that day. According to international humanitarian law, “no one can be used as hostages, not even soldiers” who “would in fact be prisoners of war,” a spokesperson for the NGO clarified when asked about this. “Therefore, Palestinian armed groups must abide by the law and not use Israeli soldiers as hostages. They can be detained as prisoners of war” and “treated humanely and released at the end of hostilities,” he added.

According to Agence France Presse, quoted in the report, a total of 815 of the 1,195 people killed on October 7 were civilians. Armed groups took 251 civilians and members of the Israeli security forces hostage. According to the same agency, there are 116 people left in the Strip today, including the bodies of at least 42 people who have died. The bodies of another 35 people have already been returned to Israel.

The HRW report comes just days after the Israeli army presented the results of a report into the events on 7 October to residents of Kibbutz Biri, one of the worst-hit communities. In the report they admitted that they failed in their duty to protect them. One hundred people were killed, which was about 10% of the population. The location was the site of a battle that lasted 12 to 15 hours between Palestinian radicals and residents. An army tank fired on one of the houses where Hamas fighters had held several residents hostage. Belkis Wiley points out that it is unclear how many of the approximately 1,200 dead that day were killed by Israeli fire, although most were killed by Palestinian armed groups. He adds that, despite arriving in Israel three days after 7 October, authorities prevented him from accessing the attacked areas and it took him a month to gain access.

According to local press, some residents of Biri, following a statement issued by the hotel where they hosted military spokesmen, have temporarily camped on the shores of the Dead Sea demanding action and an investigation commission with real answers and accountability.

In May, the ICC prosecutor’s office requested arrest warrants against three members of the Hamas leadership, including Netanyahu, his defense minister, Yoav Galant, and the political leader in Gaza, Yahia Sinwar.

In October, Israel showed foreign media, none of them local, a 43-minute video behind closed doors with images of the Hamas massacre, some of extreme brutality. Most of these match recordings from cameras worn by the attackers, some from victims and images of security cameras or traffic from the attacked locations. Military spokesmen took the opportunity to defend that it was not possible to compare the victims of that attack with the thousands of deaths caused by their bombings on the Strip. For the report presented today, HRW analyzed 280 photographs and videos of the 7 October attack.

In response to the NGO’s questions, Hamas responded with a nine-page report that “instructed it not to attack civilians and to observe human rights and international humanitarian law.” The HRW investigation concluded the opposite.

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