Hamas committed crimes against humanity, war crimes on Oct. 7, Human Rights Watch says

A new report released by Human Rights Watch concludes that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Oct. 7 attacks last year. The report says fighters conducted a coordinated assault “designed to kill civilians and take as many hostages with them.” Stephanie Sy discussed more with Ida Sawyer of Human Rights Watch.

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Stephanie Sy: A new report released by Human Rights Watch today concludes that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the October 7 attacks last year.

The report shows how Palestinian fighters conducted a coordinated assault — quote — “designed to kill civilians and take as many hostages with them.” Nearly 1,200 people were killed in Israel that day, including more than 800 civilians; 251 people were taken hostage, with some 120 still held captive in Gaza.

For more detail, I’m joined by Ida Sawyer. She’s the director for crisis and conflict at Human Rights Watch in Washington.

Ida, thank you so much for joining the “News Hour.”

As you know, since the October 7 attacks, there have been so many witness accounts, videos, photos that have come out. Tell me what is new about this report and why it’s so important to compile all of this research into one document.

Ida Sawyer, Director, Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division, Human Rights Watch: So this is the first comprehensive report that examines almost every attack on a civilian site on October 7. As you said, while much has been written about October 7, this report is important because it documents specific crimes, provides clear information about which groups were responsible, and it shows the high degree of planning and coordination that went into the crimes.

We found that the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages were all central aims of the planned attack, and not actions that occurred as an afterthought or as a plan gone awry or as isolated acts, for example, solely by the actions of unaffiliated Palestinian civilians from Gaza.

And we hope that this documentation could support accountability efforts. It’s also important for victims and their families to know that what they experienced is well-documented and will not be forgotten.

Stephanie Sy: This question of intent is really important, isn’t it?

When we talk about war crimes and crimes against humanity, terms that get thrown around quite loosely these days, it’s the coordination. It’s the intent. Not every horrific act qualifies. Can you talk about what you found that confirmed your belief that these were war crimes?

Ida Sawyer: What we were able to document is that the Palestinian armed groups committed a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population, according to the definition that’s required for crimes against humanity.

There’s strong evidence of an organizational policy to commit multiple acts of crimes against humanity. And then we’re calling for further investigation into other potential crimes against humanity, including persecution against any identifiable group on racial, national, ethnic or religious grounds, rape or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity and extermination.

Stephanie Sy: You referred to rape there, but did your report reach any new conclusions when it comes to sexual violence that occurred on October 7, which has obviously been a very fraught and debated issue ever since?

Ida Sawyer: Yes, so our research found evidence of acts of sexual violence, including forced nudity and the capturing and sharing on social media without consent of sexualized images.

But we were not able to gather verifiable information through interviews with people who were survivors of or witnesses to rape during the assault on October 7. And there’s only one public account reportedly from such a survivor.

But we have relied on the findings of the U.N. special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence and conflict and her team, who conducted a mission to Israel, and they were able to conclude that there were reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the attacks in multiple locations across the Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape in at least three locations.

So, based on this, we’re confident that sexual violence did occur, but we do not know the full extent and we were not able to reach conclusions on the question of whether sexual and gender-based violence was specifically ordered or encouraged by those who planned and ordered the attack.

Stephanie Sy: You talked to some 94 survivors of the attack as well in these interviews. Was there one particular story, Ida, that stuck out to you?

Ida Sawyer: We just heard story after story of people describing their sheer terror that they experienced when they realized their community was under attack.

Many hid in their safe rooms trying to remain as silent as possible while frantically texting loved ones and neighbors to try to understand what was happening and see if they were OK. And then they described the horror they experienced later in the day when they were able to go outside and saw all the bodies and blood everywhere or they discovered that a family member was missing and presumably taken hostage back to Gaza.

There’s one man, a nurse from Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 civilians were killed. And he described how he dragged a rapid response team member who’d been shot into the kibbutz’s dental clinic to try to treat his wounds. “There was a blood trail,” he said. “I cannot erase it from my mind, all the blood.”

Stephanie Sy: Ida, there have been accusations and denials of war crimes on both sides of the conflict, with Israel’s military response to the October 7 terrorist attacks having claimed now more than 38,000 lives according to Gaza officials.

Ultimately, what kind of accountability or justice do you hope to see for parties on both sides of this conflict?

Ida Sawyer: So what we are really pushing for is, one, for the hostages who are still being held to be urgently released, and then for all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and to respect international humanitarian law and for all those responsible on both sides, for serious crimes to be held to account.

The key message that we want to get across is that, in any armed conflict around the world, atrocities by one side cannot justify atrocities by the other. This is known as non-reciprocity, and it’s a foundational principle of international humanitarian law or the laws of war.

So, no atrocities attributable to Palestinian armed groups, such as those that we documented in this report on October 7, can justify the use of starvation as a weapon of war, collective punishment, and unlawful airstrikes being carried out by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

And what we’re really calling for to stop this endless cycle of abuses in both Israel and Palestine is for the need to address root causes and hold violators of all grave crimes to account. And that, we believe, is in the interest of both Palestinians and Israelis.

Stephanie Sy: Ida Sawyer with Human Rights Watch, thank you.

Ida Sawyer: Thank you.