More than 100 international law experts issued a statement Sunday saying the Hamas terror group committed multiple war crimes in its massive attack on Israel last week and that its actions in killing 1,300 people likely amounted to genocide.
“These actions constitute a gross violation of international law and, in particular, international criminal law,” said the document, signed by academic figures and judicial authorities in Israel and abroad.
“Videos, largely published by Hamas and posted on social media, document acts of torture, sexual violence, violence against children and body molestation,” the document said.
“Because these widespread, horrific acts appear to have been carried out with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national group – Israelis – an expressly stated goal of Hamas – they most likely constitute an international crime of genocide, which is prohibited.” through the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” it added.
Among the document’s signatories was Prof. Irwin Cotler, Canada’s former justice minister and attorney general.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions
Dan Eldad, who served as Israel’s acting prosecutor from February to May 2020 and helped compile the letter, told The Times of Israel that it could be of crucial diplomatic importance should Israel try to contact other countries or international organizations to persuade those who remain undecided to side with him and to confront those who express support for the Palestinian position.
“You can go to them and say, ‘Look, it was genocide,'” he said.
On October 7, over 1,500 Hamas terrorists stormed the Israeli border around the Gaza Strip and rampaged murderously through southern areas, taking over communities and killing the men, women and children they found, and overrunning military sites with similarly deadly results. The death toll from the bloody attack, which involved a widespread barrage of 5,000 rockets fired indiscriminately at cities across Israel, has risen to more than 1,300, the vast majority of them civilians. Thousands more were injured, hundreds of them seriously.
Dozens of babies were among the dead. Some of the victims, including entire families who were slaughtered, were reportedly beheaded. Surrounded by attackers, 260 people were systematically mowed down at an open-air music festival. In addition, the terrorists kidnapped around 150 people of all ages, including children and elderly women, and dragged them to Gaza as prisoners. Since the attack began, Hamas has continued to fire rockets indiscriminately at civilian areas in the southern and central areas.
Palestinians bring a kidnapped Israeli civilian (center) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. (Hatem Ali/AP)
The legal opinion released Sunday was organized by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a volunteer organization founded after the attack that advocates for the return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
Eldad said the document was written by several professors in Israel who then distributed it to their colleagues around the world.
“Taking hostages is defined as a war crime,” the statement said, clarifying that laws on the right to detain prisoners of war do not apply to terrorist organizations.
“Therefore, taking both civilians and soldiers hostage constitutes a war crime,” the document continues. “The circumstances of the kidnapping of all hostages, civilians and soldiers, show that they were kidnapped with the intention of holding them hostage. Hamas must release all hostages immediately.”
In addition, “kidnapping people without providing information about their whereabouts is a criminal offense.” [war] Crimes of enforced disappearance.” Available information indicates that “many abductees were tortured by their captors,” and since these acts were committed as part of Hamas’ policy of targeting civilians, “they constituted crimes against humanity for which the Perpetrators must bear full responsibility,” said the experts.
Until the hostages are released, Hamas is obliged under international law to provide information about the prisoners, including their health status, and to provide medical care, they stressed.
They called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and “all relevant UN organizations” to demand Hamas access to the abductees.
“These organizations must also do their utmost to ensure that essential food and appropriate medical treatment are provided,” they said.
A blood-soaked child’s bed at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, seen in a photo shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 11, 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. (X/Netanyahu)
The international community and organizations have a duty to use all means to pressure Hamas to prioritize the immediate release of protected groups such as “children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities and people in need of medical treatment.” it urged in the document.
Israel responded to the attacks with artillery and air strikes, and officials at the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry estimated the death toll at more than 2,000 Palestinians. Israel says it is targeting terrorist infrastructure and any areas where Hamas operates or hides, and is issuing evacuation warnings to civilians in regions it plans to attack.
An encrypted document found in a vehicle used by Hamas terrorists in their shock attack on Israel showed they were tasked with massacring civilians and taking prisoners, according to a television report on Saturday.
Public broadcaster Kan reported that the document was seized at Kibbutz Re’im, outside which at least 260 people were killed and an unknown number were taken hostage at a music festival.
The report came a day after Kan revealed another document left by a Hamas terrorist in southern Israel instructing terrorists to kill as many civilians as possible when taking over Kibbutz Alumim.
On Saturday, NBC News reported on additional documents seized from terrorists that showed extensive Hamas plans to target an elementary school and a youth center, kill “as many people as possible” and quickly move hostages from Kibbutz Sa’ad to Gaza bring.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.