7 October 2023

Killing and taking hostages was part of the plan

In a letter sent to Human Rights Watch on 14 April 2024, Hamas claimed that the al-Qassam Brigades had ordered their fighters not to target civilians, and blamed the violence on Palestinians from Gaza not affiliated with the organization.

The HRW report, published on 17 July 2024, finds this version false. According to the organization, killing civilians and taking hostages were goals set from the outset, and the attack was planned and coordinated precisely to achieve them.

The evidence gathered all points in the same direction. The fighters began shooting civilians immediately after the assault began, at 6:30 in the morning. Between December 2020 and September 2023 the armed groups had held four drills, called “Strong Pillar”, in which they practised hostage-taking, raiding compounds, amphibious landings, destroying communication towers and breaching the border fences. Since 2018 the armed factions in Gaza had been coordinating through a joint operations room.

Five armed groups took part in the attack. It was led by the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing and the most active group that day, which carried out ten of the thirteen breaches of the border barrier documented by HRW. With them were the al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad and the armed wings of three other Palestinian organizations.