Amnesty International says Hamas October 7 crimes were ‘atrocious’

Amnesty International, which has called for war crimes investigations into both Israel and Hamas, calls Hamas’s massacre on October 7 “atrocious” in a statement marking the one-year anniversary.

“Amnesty International Israel bows its head in mourning to commemorate the anniversary of the atrocious October 7 massacre,” says the international human rights organization.

“We shall not forget the many victims, and of course, the men and women who are still kept hostage in Gaza in harsh and life-threatening conditions,” it adds. “Entire communities were in danger of being eliminated on that day by a murderous attack that resulted in some being uprooted and other communities experiencing severe damage to their fabric of life.”

Amnesty also criticizes Israel’s response: “The massacre perpetrated by Hamas and its accomplices, and Israel’s subsequent devastating attacks on Gaza, reverberate in the public discussions held here and around the world. They lead to mutual accusations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even genocide, which each party attributes to the other.”

The organization says that accusations of war crimes must be investigated.

Turning to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Amnesty says that Israel, “like any other countries, has the right and even the duty to allow its residents to live safely within its borders. This certainly applies to dealing with the intentional, continuous, and serious damage that Hezbollah inflicts on the civilian population and the fabric of life of entire communities and localities, and to the danger involved in a potential invasion of those localities and the targeting of their residents.

“However, any such belligerent act must be restricted under the rules of International Humanitarian Law as a moral and value compass — first and foremost refraining from targeting civilians — and not just as lip service to the international community.”