Cover photo shows the floor of a child’s bedroom stained with blood in Be’eri, Israel, near Gaza Border on Oct 17. Photo by Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux (https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/15-h-16105674.jpg?q=w_1576,c_fill)
“On 7 October, a coordinated attack by more than 1,000 members of the Hamas military wing and other Palestinian armed groups, accompanied by Palestinian civilians, was launched against Israeli civilian targets and military bases in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza. Attackers entered Israel by land, sea and air under cover of an unprecedented rocket and mortar attack targeting southern and central Israel.”1
“…more than 1,200 persons were killed directly by members of various Palestinian armed groups and others, as well as by rockets and mortars launched from Gaza. Among those killed, at least 809 were civilians, including at least 280 women and 68 foreign nationals, and 314 were Israeli military personnel. The dead included 40 children, including at least 23 boys and 15 girls, and 25 persons aged 80 and over. In addition, 14,970 injured people were transferred to hospitals for treatment. At least 252 people were abducted and taken to Gaza as hostages, including 90 women, 36 children and a number of older people, as well as about 20 members of the Israeli security forces; many members of the Israeli security forces have since been killed while being held captive.2…at least 18 civilians were killed by direct projectile hits during the attack and in the weeks that followed.”3
“The Hamas armed wing and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad publicly claimed responsibility for the attack and declared in several statements their intention to target civilian locations.“4
“Approximately 150,000 people were evacuated from their homes in southern Israel on and immediately after 7 October. As of April 2024, the majority were still displaced, residing in hotels and temporary housing.”5
“Militants systematically moved from house to house, setting homes on fire, shooting into private and public shelters, removing people from hiding places, and killing, injuring and abducting civilians. The [UN] Commission investigated six distinct attacks in Be’eri and eight attacks in Nir Oz, each involving multiple victims, generally from the same families.”6
Members of the military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and civilians from Gaza entered the Be’eri locality and shot at residents, cars, pets and houses, killing 105 civilians (63 men and 42 women), injuring several other residents, setting houses on fire, abducting 31 civilians (13 men and 18 women), and taking them to Gaza. In one case, a 9-month-old girl was shot and killed while hiding with her mother in a safe room and in another case, at least four people were taken out of their homes and killed at the perimeter of the village (kibbutz).7
“In Nir Oz, 46 civilians were killed (33 men and 13 women) by members of the military wing of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. Palestinian civilians also participated in the killings. Seventy-two residents of the kibbutz (37 men and 35 women) were abducted and taken to Gaza. In Nir Oz, a 79-year-old woman and her 12-year-old autistic granddaughter were killed close to the perimeter fence with Gaza, allegedly because they were slowing down the retreat of their captors. In another case, a 70-year-old woman and her 73-year-old husband were attacked while out for a walk. The woman was killed, while her husband was abducted and died in
captivity.”8
“Many Israeli families suffered multigenerational losses, with several members either killed or abducted. In one case, in Be’eri, a 48-year-old woman and her two teenage daughters were killed and their father abducted. In Nir Oz, a family of five was hiding in their safe room when militants broke in, shot and killed both parents and set fire to their home; the three children died from smoke inhalation. The children’s grandmother was shot dead in a different
safe room in the kibbutz. In another case from Nir Oz, an entire family was abducted, including both parents, a 4-year-old boy and a 9-month-old baby. Two of the children’s grandparents were also killed in the attack and their bodies found near the border.”9
“Of the approximately 3,000 young people attending the Nova music festival in Re’im,15 364 people, including 215 men and 136 women, were killed by members of the military wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, while about 40 others were abducted and taken to Gaza. Victims were killed at the site of the main festival while attempting to hide under the festival stage, in portable public toilets, inside parked cars and in garbage containers. In one case, a man hiding by a parked car was shot to death by Hamas militants. Many of those killed were shot while running through a field east of the festival site, trying to escape. Others were killed while hiding in stationary cars and in public shelters along route 232, where they sought refuge. Survivors in public shelters reported lying for
hours under piles of bodies waiting for first responders to arrive.”10
At four different public shelters, “militants attacked the shelters using grenades and machine gunfire, shooting at anyone attempting to escape. In a shelter near Re’im, the [UN] Commission found that militants had also used a rocket-propelled grenade. Militants abducted civilians from the Re’im shelter, all of whom were seriously injured, to
Gaza. The similar pattern of attack used at the four locations and at other public shelters suggests that the attackers planned the modalities of the attacks in advance.”11
“In Zikim beach, Hamas militants killed at least 18 civilians, including five teenagers (four boys and one girl), at a public shelter, public toilets and other locations on the beach. Two boats carrying roughly 10 Hamas militants arrived at the beach at approximately 6.45 a.m. Hamas militants threw grenades into the shelter and then shot indiscriminately. The
Commission reviewed and verified digital evidence of the attack on the block of toilets showing five teenagers crouching, with shooting heard in the background. A member of the Israeli security forces was also present, engaging the militants and returning fire. In another video published by Hamas, six dead bodies, including the five teenagers, are seen in the toilet block, all of whom appear to have been shot and killed.”12
“The [UN] Commission found evidence of mistreatment of civilians and members of the Israeli security forces in several locations, as well as significant evidence of the desecration of corpses, including sexualized desecration, decapitations, lacerations, burning, the severing of body parts and the undressing of bodies.”13
“The [UN] Commission estimates that some 130 older persons were killed in the attack. In one incident at a bus stop in Sderot, militants shot and killed 13 civilians, 8 over the age of 65.”14
“At least 68 foreign nationals were killed on 7 October. The Commission documented the torture, attempted beheading and killing of Thai workers in Nir Oz and the killing of 19 Nepalese and Thai exchange students in Alumim.”15
“Forty Israeli children (at least 23 boys and 15 girls), including one under the age of 2 and 10 under the age of 10, were killed and hundreds more were wounded on 7 October. Twenty children lost both their parents and 96 children lost one parent. In all the cases investigated by the Commission, militants carried out attacks with full knowledge that children were present. In one case, three siblings from Kfar Azza witnessed the killing of their parents. One sibling, a 3-year-old girl, was abducted to Gaza, while her brother and sister spent 14 hours hiding in a wardrobe, waiting to be rescued.”16
“The [UN] Commission found that children were used by members of the military wing of Hamas and other armed groups, with the intent of achieving specific political or strategic gains. In one case, militants used a 17-year-old boy in kibbutz Nahal Oz to convince his neighbours to open their houses and then filmed and livestreamed his ordeal. He was later killed, while his stepsisters, aged 8 and 15, were abducted to Gaza. In Holit, two siblings, aged 4 and 4-months, witnessed the murder of their mother. They were subsequently taken and held by a Hamas militant and filmed while the militant told them to “look at the mercy in our hearts. Here are the children, we did not kill them”. The video was uploaded by the official Hamas military wing for propaganda purposes. The two children were taken to a neighbour’s house for the purpose of being abducted but were released on the way to Gaza. In these and other cases, children were removed from the protection and care of their parents and put in highly vulnerable situations, with little ability to understand the situation or to voice their objection.”17
“Children were also intentionally targeted for abduction. Thirty-six children were abducted to Gaza, 10 of them alone, without parents or other family members: 34 children were released in November 2023.”18
- https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/56/26 para.8 ↩︎
- ibid. para.9 ↩︎
- ibid. para.10 ↩︎
- ibid. para.10 ↩︎
- ibid. para.11 ↩︎
- ibid. para.12 ↩︎
- ibid. para.13 ↩︎
- ibid. para.14 ↩︎
- ibid. para.15 ↩︎
- ibid. para.16 ↩︎
- ibid. para.17 ↩︎
- ibid. para.18 ↩︎
- ibid. para.19 ↩︎
- ibid. para.20 ↩︎
- ibid. para.21 ↩︎
- ibid. para.31 ↩︎
- ibid. para.32 ↩︎
- ibid. para.33 ↩︎