Overview
- Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups are for the first time accused by Amnesty of crimes against humanity during and after Oct. 7, with the mass killings described as the crime of extermination.
- Amnesty lists murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, rape and other sexual violence, while noting it could not determine the scale of sexual crimes due to limited survivor access.
- The report says hostage-taking, mistreatment of captives, and withholding of bodies were carried out under an explicitly stated plan by group leadership.
- Responsibility is assigned chiefly to Hamas, including the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and some unaffiliated civilians implicated to a lesser extent.
- The findings come alongside Amnesty’s separate genocide allegation against Israel, which Israel rejects, and against the backdrop of ICC actions that withdrew applications for Hamas leaders killed in 2024 and left active warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.