FILE PHOTO: Tal Shoham, a former hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, with his wife and two children as well as three other members of his family, and held in Gaza for 505 days, looks at the damage to the home of his in-laws in Kibbutz Beeri, southern Israel, September 15, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People attend a rally demanding the release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 9, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Posters with images of Yarden, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas who were taken hostage are displayed at the entrance to the Bibas family house, on the day of Kibbutz Nir Oz commemorates those killed during the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel's southern communities by Hamas, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, October 6, 2025. Shiri Bibas and the children were killed in captivity and Yarden Bibas was released from captivity after 484 days. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) - A new report by Amnesty International has found that Palestinian militant group Hamas committed crimes against humanity during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and against hostages it took to Gaza.

The London-based human rights group said that its report, published on Wednesday, analysed patterns of the attack, communications between fighters during the assault and statements by Hamas and the leaders of other armed groups.

Amnesty interviewed 70 people, including survivors and victims' families, forensic experts and medical professionals, visited some attack sites and reviewed more than 350 videos and photographs of attack scenes and of hostages during their captivity.

Its investigation found that the crimes against humanity included murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual abuse and inhumane acts.

"These crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population. The report found that fighters were instructed to carry out attacks targeting civilians," it said in a statement.

Hamas denied in a statement that it had carried out the crimes mentioned in the report and urged Amnesty International to retract it.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said the report did not cover the full extent of what it called "Hamas' horrific atrocities".

Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack and 251 people were taken hostage, including children, according to Israeli tallies and Amnesty. All but one have since been released, most of them as part of ceasefire deals and some in Israeli military operations.

The attack precipitated Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities, left swathes of the enclave in ruins and much of its population homeless.

A December 2024 report by Amnesty determined that Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has rejected genocide accusations, and says that its war has been against Hamas, not the Palestinians.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Heavens)