How did the UN Human Rights Council describe the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas?
Executive summary
The UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry described the October 7, 2023 assaults as a “complex attack” launched by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups that included large-scale killings, abductions and other serious violations amounting to war crimes; the Commission found both Hamas and Israeli authorities responsible for grave breaches of international law in the period following 7 October [1] [2]. The Council’s reporting also records estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attacks and documents widespread atrocities by Palestinian armed groups on that day while simultaneously concluding that Israel’s subsequent military operations in Gaza gave rise to numerous violations, including possible crimes against humanity [3] [4] [2].
1. How the HRC framed October 7: a “complex attack” with grave violations
The UN’s Commission of Inquiry, mandated by the Human Rights Council, characterized the October 7 assault as a coordinated, complex attack launched from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups that involved killings, mistreatment, sexual violence and hostage-taking — violations the Commission says amounted to serious breaches of international humanitarian law [1] [5]. The Commission collected testimony, satellite imagery, forensic reports and thousands of open-source items to reach these findings and produced a dedicated report on the 7 October events for presentation to the Council [2] [6].
2. Casualty and abduction figures cited to the Council
The reports and coverage submitted to the Human Rights Council cite Israeli-source estimates that the October 7 assaults killed roughly 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds taken hostage, figures repeated in the Commission’s material and in reporting on the Council’s session [3] [4]. Human Rights Watch and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights document that multiple Palestinian armed groups participated and committed serious violations during the assault [7] [5].
3. Commission’s dual findings: culpability on both sides
The Commission’s submissions to the Human Rights Council explicitly accuse Palestinian armed groups of carrying out deliberate attacks on civilians on 7 October, while also concluding that Israeli authorities’ military responses in Gaza since that date included actions that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity — a dual set of accusations the UN presented to the Council [2] [4]. The Commission’s reporting is framed as the UN’s first in‑depth inquiry into events on and since 7 October and was prepared for the Council’s 56th session [2].
4. Political friction around wording: “terrorist” v. “targeting of civilians”
Council and UN General Assembly debates show division over language. Some UN forums and member states called October 7 “acts of terror” and insisted on naming Hamas directly; other Council resolutions and UN News summaries instead “decry the targeting of civilians, including on 7 October 2023,” without always using the word “terrorist,” reflecting diplomatic splits among member states [8] [9]. This disagreement affected votes and amendments in UN bodies, where efforts to explicitly condemn Hamas were at times rejected or failed to secure consensus [8].
5. Methodology and evidentiary limits the Commission acknowledges
The Commission’s report to the Human Rights Council was based on remote and in-person interviews, forensic medical reports, satellite imagery and thousands of open‑source items, but it also notes constraints — for example, difficulties accessing some sites and contested accounts from parties to the conflict — which the Commission attempted to mitigate through cross‑verification [2] [6]. The written conference-room paper on 7 October provides granular factual findings while acknowledging instances where membership in a particular armed faction could not be definitively determined [6].
6. Wider context the HRC insisted must be considered
The Commission framed both the October 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent operations as rooted in a broader context: decades of occupation, displacement, blockade and systemic discrimination that the Commission says must be considered when assessing causes and consequences of the violence [10]. The Commission warned that 7 October marked a watershed with the risk of further entrenching occupation dynamics [10].
7. How different actors reacted to the Council’s portrayal
Israel rejected the Commission’s findings as biased, with its mission saying the reports reflected “systematic anti‑Israeli discrimination,” while other states and human rights groups used the Commission’s evidence to call for accountability on both sides and to assist potential future prosecutions [3] [4]. The UN Human Rights Office and its chief framed the situation as one requiring “due reckoning” for horrific violations and possible atrocity crimes affecting Israelis and Palestinians since 7 October [5].
Limitations: available sources do not mention every specific casualty breakdown by municipality or the Commission’s confidential witness lists; this summary relies only on the provided UN and major reporting documents cited above [2] [3] [4].