Overview
- The 173-page report says the mass killing of civilians amounted to the crime against humanity of extermination and lists murder, imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, rape and other sexual violence.
- Amnesty concludes fighters were instructed to target civilians and finds Hamas and its armed wing chiefly responsible, with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and some unaffiliated civilians implicated to a lesser extent.
- Hostage-taking is described as a planned strategy directed by Hamas leadership, with documented mistreatment in captivity and the withholding of bodies seized during the assault.
- Investigators interviewed about 70 people, visited attack sites, and reviewed more than 350 videos and photos; limited access to survivors constrained conclusions on the scale of sexual violence.
- Israeli tallies cited in the report note roughly 1,200 people killed and 251 hostages taken on Oct. 7, with all but one set of remains later returned; Hamas rejects the findings, and Israel disputes Amnesty’s separate genocide allegation regarding the Gaza war.