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Amnesty International on Thursday accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity, including extermination, during and after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

"Palestinian armed groups committed violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during their attacks in southern Israel that started on 7 October 2023," the human rights watchdog said in a 173-page report.

Amnesty said that the mass killing of civilians on October 7 amounted "to the crime against humanity of extermination”.

The rights group has also accused Israel of committing genocide in its retaliatory campaign in Gaza, an accusation that Israel has vehemently denied.

Amnesty said that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza "continued to commit violations and crimes under international law in their holding and mistreatment of hostages and the withholding of bodies seized."

Amnesty, which had previously accused Hamas and other groups of committing war crimes on October 7, concluded in its newest report that they were also responsible for crimes against humanity, particularly in the seizure and holding in captivity of hostages.

"The holding of hostages was done as part of an explicitly stated plan explained by the leadership of Hamas and of other Palestinian armed groups," the report stated.

Amnesty has previously accused Hamas and other groups of committing war crimes, which are serious violations of international law, against civilians and combatants during armed conflict.

Crimes against humanity can occur in peacetime and include torture, rape, and discrimination, be it racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, or gender-based. It involves "a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population".

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, and 251 people were taken hostage that day, including 44 who were dead.

Of the 207 hostages taken alive, 41 died or were killed in captivity. At the time of writing, all hostages have been returned as part of a ceasefire in Gaza except for the body of one Israeli officer.

Among the acts listed as crimes against humanity by Amnesty were murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, rape, and "other forms of sexual violence".

For the latter crimes, it said that it was not able to interview survivors except for one case, and therefore could not conclude the scope or scale of sexual violence.

Mass killing 

The report concluded that Hamas including its armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, was "chiefly responsible" for the crimes.

Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and "unaffiliated Palestinian civilians", were responsible to a lesser extent.

In May 2024, the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants for then Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, then head of Hamas' armed wing Mohammed Deif, and then head of Hamas and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar.

The ICC withdrew the applications after the trio were all killed later that year by Israel.

AFP