A Human rights NGO has released a comprehensive report concluding that Hamas led several armed Palestinian groups in committing hundreds of war crimes, including acts of sexual violence, during the highly coordinated October 7 attacks on southern Israel.

The 236-page report, titled “‘I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind’: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel,” recounts the experiences of 144 survivors, victims’ family members and medical professionals whom HRW interviewed between October 2023 and June 2024 and documents the numerous violations of international humanitarian law by Palestinian terror groups on October 7.

According to the report, these violations include: “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.”

At a news conference announcing the group’s latest report, HRW associate director Belkis Wille said that while it is “impossible for us to put a number on the specific instances [of war crimes],” there were “obviously hundreds on that day.”

The report found that the acts of violence were intentionally committed against Israeli civilians by Palestinian fighters, concluding that “killing civilians and taking hostages were central aims of the planned attack, not an afterthought, a plan gone awry, or isolated acts.”

Relatives of Hanan Yablonka, one of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

The report added that at least five armed wings of terrorist groups participated in the coordinated attack on October 7, led by Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, linked to the Fatah political faction.

The group’s participation was confirmed, “through a detailed analysis of the attackers visible in videos taken during the attacks, including CCTV and body camera footage, some wearing colored headbands linked to specific armed groups, as well as an identification of the Telegram social media channels belonging to specific armed groups on which the footage of abuse was posted, with captions claiming responsibility for the acts shown.”

HRW’s report also found evidence that members of the terrorist groups committed acts of sexual and gender-based violence on October 7, “including acts of forced nudity and posting of sexualised images without consent on social media.”

First responders also described “seeing bodies in conditions and circumstances they believe were indicative of the deceased having been victims of sexual violence.”

While HRW could not confirm explicit cases of rape due to methodological and ethical challenges, the report acknowledged that HRW “does not take this to mean that they did not occur.”

(Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas authorities responded to questions from HRW in an 8-page report, stating that its forces were instructed not to target civilians and to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law. However, HRW’s report contended that the organisation found evidence to the contrary.

HRW has frequently criticised the IDF for its conduct in Gaza and failed to condemn the atrocities of October 7 in the immediate aftermath, according to a former employee who left the organisation after alleging antisemitism had “infected” HRW’s work on Israel.

Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at HRW, said the recent findings of the research “should spur a global call to action for an end to all abuses against civilians in Israel and Palestine.”

“Atrocities do not justify atrocities,” Sawyer said. “To stop the endless cycle of abuses in Israel and Palestine, it’s critical to address root causes and hold violators of grave crimes to account. That’s in the interests of both Palestinians and Israelis.”