Overview
- Amnesty’s report concludes Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed crimes against humanity during and after the October 7, 2023 assault, characterizing the mass killing of civilians as extermination.
- The documented offenses include murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, rape and other sexual violence, and other inhumane acts carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians.
- Investigators interviewed about 70 people, visited attack sites, and reviewed more than 350 videos and photos, and found the hostage‑taking was part of an explicitly stated plan by Hamas and allied groups.
- Hamas rejected the findings as inaccurate and politically motivated, while Israel’s Foreign Ministry welcomed acknowledgment of Hamas atrocities but called the report too little and too late.
- Amnesty situates its findings alongside its prior conclusion that Israel committed genocide in Gaza and renews calls for cooperation with international judicial mechanisms; the Oct. 7 attack killed about 1,200 people in Israel with 251 taken hostage, and Gaza authorities report more than 70,000 Palestinians killed in the war.