Hamas was not the only Palestinian armed group involved in the October 7 attacks, Human Rights Watch said.

Hamas is not the only armed group to have intervened on October 7 during the terrorist attack in Israel, according to the report by the NGO Human Rights Watch published on Wednesday July 17 and which Radio France was able to consult.

According to the report, it was indeed Hamas that was behind the attacks on October 7 and coordinated them. In most of the videos, the men of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, are clearly recognizable thanks to the distinctive headbands they wear around their foreheads. But the NGO report also identifies at least four other armed groups that participated in the atrocities: Islamic Jihad, but also groups known to be less Islamist, such as the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, formerly linked to Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah.

To reach these conclusions, Human Rights Watch conducted a long-term investigation in the field over several months. This report, a sort of giant investigative report, was carried out in the 26 kibbutzim and two Israeli towns that Palestinian fighters from Hamas and other armed groups from Gaza attacked on October 7 alone. Two hundred and thirty witnesses, including 94 direct victims, were interviewed. The NGO also checked 280 videos from kibbutz surveillance cameras, “dashcams” embedded in civilian vehicles, as well as those worn by the attackers themselves and broadcast almost immediately on social networks.

Another point highlighted in the report is that the kibbutzim have often defended themselves. “reaction groups” Armed and present in each kibbutz, they often tried to defend the houses and properties sometimes for several hours. Most of the time they were overwhelmed. Only two kibbutzim out of the 25 visited managed to resist, deploring no casualties in their ranks. Everywhere else, murders and hostage-takings multiplied.

Hamas’ October 7 attacks around the Gaza Strip left nearly 1,200 people dead and triggered the Israeli offensive on Gaza that has continued ever since.