Hamas and other groups committed war crimes on 7 October – HRW

Hamas and at the very least 4 different Palestinian armed teams dedicated quite a few conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity towards civilians throughout the 7 October assault on southern Israel, the marketing campaign group Human Rights Watch says.

A brand new report accuses the lots of of gunmen who breached the Gaza border fence of violations together with deliberate and indiscriminate assaults on civilians, wilful killing of individuals in custody, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation of our bodies and looting.

It additionally discovered the killing of civilians and hostage-taking have been “central goals of the deliberate assault” and never an “afterthought”.

Hamas angrily rejected what it known as HRW’s “lies” and demanded an apology.

About 1,200 Israelis and foreigners – principally civilians – have been killed and 251 others have been taken as hostages when greater than Israeli communities and cities, in addition to variety of navy bases, two music festivals and a seashore get together have been attacked 9 months in the past.

Israel responded by launching a navy marketing campaign in Gaza with the goals of destroying Hamas and liberating the hostages.

Greater than 38,790 individuals have been killed in Gaza since then, in line with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry, whose figures don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The report released by HRW on Wednesday is predicated on interviews with 144 individuals, together with witnesses to the 7 October assault, in addition to evaluation of greater than 280 pictures and movies posted on social media or shared with the group’s researchers.

“Throughout many assault websites, [Palestinian] fighters fired immediately at civilians, typically at shut vary, as they tried to flee, and at individuals who occurred to be driving automobiles within the space,” it says.

“They hurled grenades and shot into protected rooms and different shelters and fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at properties. They set some homes on hearth, burning and suffocating individuals to dying, and forcing out others who they then captured or killed,” it provides.

“They took lots of hostage for switch to Gaza or summarily killed them.”

Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, led the assault, however HRW says it has sturdy proof of the participation of at the very least 4 different Palestinian armed teams, primarily based on headbands the gunmen wore and their claims posted on social media:

• al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
• Omar al-Qasim Forces, the armed wing of Democratic Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
• Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the In style Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which is linked to the Fatah motion

The BBC has previously reported that they took part in military-style exercises with Hamas from 2020 onwards which intently resembled the techniques used on 7 October.

HRW’s report concludes that the Palestinian teams dedicated a widespread and systematic assault directed towards a civilian inhabitants, which quantities to a criminal offense towards humanity, primarily based on the quite a few civilian websites that have been focused and “the planning that went into the crimes”.

It additionally discovered that the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages have been “all central goals of the deliberate assault, and never actions that occurred as an afterthought, or as a plan gone awry, or as remoted acts, for instance solely by the actions of unaffiliated Palestinians from Gaza, and as such, there’s sturdy proof of an organisational coverage to commit a number of acts of crimes towards humanity”.

The report says additional investigation is required into different potential crimes towards humanity, together with persecution towards any identifiable group on racial, nationwide, ethnic or spiritual grounds; rape or sexual violence of comparable gravity; and extermination, if there was a mass killing calculated to deliver concerning the “destruction” of a part of a inhabitants.

The report features a letter from Hamas responding to the allegations, during which the group stated it was “dedicated to respecting worldwide regulation” and that the al-Qassam Brigades “was clear in directing its members and fighters to not goal civilians”.

Hamas additionally stated the participation of unaffiliated Palestinians from Gaza and different armed teams not concerned within the preliminary, deliberate assault led to “chaos within the area”, a change in “the plan to conduct an operation towards navy targets” and “the incidence of many errors”.

The report says HRW discovered Hamas’s declare that its forces didn’t search to hurt Israeli civilians was “false”, noting that photographs and movies confirmed gunmen looking for out civilians and killing them at numerous websites from the primary moments of the assault.

In a press release issued following the report’s publication, Hamas stated: “We reject the lies and blatant bias in direction of the occupation [Israel] and the shortage of professionalism and credibility within the Human Rights Watch report. We demand its withdrawal and an apology.”