JERUSALEM (AFP) — Hamas led other Palestinian armed groups in committing hundreds of war crimes in the surprise 7 October attack on Israel that set off the Gaza war, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Wednesday.

One of the most in-depth international studies on the unprecedented incursion into southern Israel outlined a host of potential war crimes cases.

“It’s impossible for us to put a number on the specific instances,” HRW associate director Belkis Wille told a news conference, adding that “there were obviously hundreds on that day.”

The crimes include “deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects; wilful killing of persons in custody; cruel and other inhumane treatment; sexual and gender-based violence; hostage taking; mutilation and despoiling (robbing) of bodies; use of human shields; and pillage and looting,” said the report.

The report focuses on violations of international humanitarian law, rules mostly rooted in the Geneva Conventions for conduct in war.

Although Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is recognized as the orchestrator of the attack, the report lists other armed groups that committed war crimes on 7 October, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“The reality is that it really wasn’t civilians from Gaza who perpetrated the worst abuses,” Wille said.

“That was a claim made very early on by Hamas to distance itself from the events, and by Israel to justify its retaliation operation.”