The Civil Commission on Oct. 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children has released a groundbreaking report titled Kinocide: The Weaponization of Families. This report was prepared by Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, Dr. Michal Gilad and Dr. Ilya Rudyak from the Civil Commission. It highlights the systematic and targeted assault on families during the October 7, 2023, attacks. On this day, during a Jewish holiday, Hamas and its collaborators launched a widespread assault on Israel’s civilian population, resulting in the deaths of over 1,200 people and the abduction of more than 250 individuals into Gaza.
Focusing on kibbutzim and other residential communities, the report exposes the deliberate targeting and exploitation of families, including brutal murders in front of loved ones, the abduction of entire families, and the forced separation of parents and children. It sheds light on this often-overlooked aspect of the attack, revealing the extreme brutality inflicted on family units.
Beyond documenting the events of October 7, the report analyzes the legal framework identifying these acts as a new international crime. It calls for recognition of the victims' suffering and presents actionable recommendations for the international community, urging the formation of a coalition to address these atrocities and prevent their recurrence—drawing parallels to global efforts to recognize and respond to atrocities.
The Civil Commission’s work was led by Adv. Merav Israeli-Amarant and supported by a dedicated team: COO Nirit Samocha, who oversees the infrastructure and technological systems; Adv. Elinor Kroitoru, former deputy director of the Yad Vashem archive, who heads the archive and documentation division; Adv. Irit Gazit, responsible for the collection of materials and testimonies; and Danae Marx, who manages international communications and outreach. Their combined efforts made this report possible.
Key Findings:
Systematic and Widespread Attack on Families
Evidence demonstrates at least six consistent patterns of abuse, including violence in the presence of family members, the annihilation of entire families, and the use of social media to broadcast abuses, amplifying the psychological trauma.
Families were subjected to profound harm, with perpetrators transforming safe familial spaces into sites of terror and destruction.
Weaponization of Digital and Social Media
Hamas utilized victims’ own social media accounts to share violent acts, exacerbating the emotional and psychological trauma of surviving family members and expanding the reach of the attack’s harm beyond its immediate victims.
This form of digital violence persists, amplifying the long-term impact on affected communities and individuals.
Unique Nature of Familial Harm
The family unit, a foundational pillar of human society, was specifically targeted. The psychological and societal repercussions of these attacks are singularly destructive and protracted, rippling through communities and society at large.
Introducing the Term “Kinocide”
To encapsulate the unique evil of such attacks, the report introduces the term kinocide, denoting the weaponization of families and the exploitation of familial bonds as a distinct form of violence.
Naming this phenomenon is essential for addressing it effectively, bringing justice to victims, and fostering healing and recognition.
Global Context and Implications
The report identifies kinocide as a global issue, drawing parallels to similar atrocities in Iraq, Syria, Rwanda, Bosnia, Myanmar, and other conflict zones. These findings underscore the urgent need for international recognition and action to prevent and address such targeted violence.
The weaponization of families is neither new nor unique, as historical and contemporary examples reveal systematic exploitation of familial bonds to exert harm. Cases such as the Armenian Genocide, the Kiev pogroms, and the cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada demonstrate tailored violent measures aimed at undermining family structures to weaken communities, exert control, or further ethnic cleansing. Similar tactics have been documented in Argentina, Iraq, Syria, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, and Rwanda, among others, with actions ranging from forced separations, abuse, and re-education of children to rape and execution of family members.
These acts often lack an official designation or terminology, obscuring their prevalence and hindering proper acknowledgment and justice for victims. The persistence of such strategies highlights the need for recognition and robust measures to address this form of abuse globally.
Call for Legal Recognition and Accountability
Current international criminal law lacks adequate provisions to protect families against such targeted attacks. The report advocates for the integration of kinocide into international criminal law as a crime against humanity, a war crime, a form of genocide, and a form of torture.
A detailed framework for recognizing and codifying kinocide as a distinct international crime is proposed, emphasizing the necessity of legal instruments like the Draft Crimes Against Humanity Treaty.
Recommendations
The report emphasizes that recognizing kinocide as a distinct international crime is not just about justice and accountability but also about providing the language for victims to describe their unique suffering and promoting prevention and protection. The deliberate targeting of families undermines the very fabric of societies, posing a threat to nations, communities, and ethnic groups. Addressing this phenomenon is critical for ensuring stability and safeguarding human rights.
The international community is urged to establish an independent expert panel to define kinocide, provide guidance to legal practitioners, and codify it as an international crime. Steps include interpreting existing international criminal law (ICL) instruments to integrate kinocide, amending instruments like the Rome Statute to include it, and exploring new treaties or conventions. UN bodies should emphasize the severity of kinocide and advocate for its adoption and prosecution. A dedicated task force should be established to articulate the potential definition and recognition of kinocide to ensure prevention and accountability, complemented by an international fund for victims.
National governments should recognize and criminalize kinocide domestically, including incitement and complicity. NGOs are called to monitor, document, analyze, and report kinocide incidents, aiding early intervention and prevention strategies.
Sheryl Sandberg, Founder, Lean In
“On October 7, Hamas struck at the heart of the Jewish community: the family unit. Hamas’ atrocities against families were designed to break one of life’s strongest bonds. They tried, but they must never be allowed to succeed. This groundbreaking work by the Civil Commission, led by the incredible Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, and supported by the Raoul Wallenberg Center methodically documents Hamas’ terror on that day. It also serves as a clarion call to the international community to stand up and take action to protect families across the globe from future acts of violence by classifying kinocide as a crime against humanity.”
The Honorable Irwin Cotler, Founder and International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
"In an Age of Mass Atrocity, the systematic brutalization of families by Hamas on October 7th - horrors too terrible to be believed but not too terrible to have happened - constitute the Crime Against Humanity of Kinocide. There have been, tragically enough, too many mass atrocities in our time, but this one harbours an unprecedented evil: the glorification and celebration of these genocidal atrocities in real time on digital media, amidst the call to commit these mass atrocities “again and again and again.” This must serve as a wake-up call for the community of democracies to combat such mass atrocities— whatever their source— as we renew our individual and collective commitment to the pursuit of peace and understanding between states and peoples." –
Prof. Yuval Shany, International Law Professor at Hebrew University, Researcher at Israel Democracy Institute, former UN Human Rights Committee member
The atrocities committed by Hamas militants and their affiliates on October 7 in the "Gaza Envelop” inside Israel shocked us to the core, not only because they represented the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, but also because of the unspeakable cruelty that constituted and accompanied these atrocities. The Commission's report took upon itself the difficult, but critically important, task of uttering part of the unspeakable, and developing a suitable term for capturing some its evil essence - kinocide. Like genocide, which is directed against a group of people, kinocide represents an attack against a group, using the family relationship holding between family members and their emotional, identity, cultural, symbolic, material and other bonds, as a way to maximize the intended harm of the attack. By describing this cruel practice and giving this a name, the Commission has taken an important step in the direction of recognizing this terrible crime against humanity and formulating suitable legal and social responses to it.”
Professor Mukesh Kapila, former Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
“Our world is not short of atrocity crimes but lacks adequate remedies despite established legal frameworks. Perhaps because we tend to lump together all the myriad cruelties that humans inflict on each other, and we stop trying to understand the all-important gruesome detail of what perpetrators do in particular circumstances, and why? That way, the broadbrush labels of international criminal law short-change accountability and ill-serve justice. This original study challenges that laziness through a forensic focus on Hamas’s 7 October atrocities against Israelis. A compelling case is made that the weaponisation of families and the uniquely horrible mental, emotional, and physical destruction this wreaks – called ‘kinocide’ by the authors - deserves recognition and penalization as a specific war crime, and a crime against humanity that sometimes could also be a constituent act of genocide.”
Prof. Nienke Grossman, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law
“This report furthers the cause of justice in conflict by seeking to name and pursue accountability for systematic attacks on those whom we cherish most: our loved ones. As the report explains, this horrific pattern of behavior is, unfortunately, present across many conflicts and throughout history, including on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel. The report is an important step in efforts to pursue justice for victims of kinocide worldwide and to acknowledge the entirety of the harm they suffered.”
Roya Hakakian, Writer and Cofounder of Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
“What the Civil Commission on Oct 7 Crimes has done is what Jews have done throughout the centuries in the aftermath of tragedy – bring insight to anguish to light a path through it. But most importantly, the Commission has taken a major step toward eradicating evil by giving it a name. Now the Cambodians whose families were ripped apart, the Bosnians who witnesses their loved ones assaulted before their eyes, and the Iranians who were forced to turn on their kin, all know what to call that nameless experience that once shattered their lives, and how to trace its lineage to other victims in the human tree of suffering.”
Prof. William W. Burke-White, law professor and policy advisor; Inaugural Director of Perry World House, an interdisciplinary global policy research institute at the University of Pennsylvania
"This study not only provides important and compelling documentation of the horrific atrocities of October 7th, but also a significant proposal for a new crime in international law. The legal and conceptual framework of kinocide merits further study and consideration in the broader context of international criminal law."
Professor David Crane, Founding Chief Prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Syracuse University College of Law
“In the dirty little wars of the 21st century, women, children, and whole families pay a particularly harsh price. Only through adhering to the rule of law can conflicts be managed. The cutting-edge concept in this paper advances the theory of law and molds it to capture the gravamen of the offenses of the brutal attacks on civilian non-combatants.”
Brian L. Crowley, Managing Director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute
"Kinocide represents a barbaric strategy that weaponizes the family unit to sow terror, obliterate trust, and perpetuate cycles of violence. Hamas’ deliberate attacks on the very fabric of familial and social bonds underscore the importance of exposing and combating these heinous acts. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is proud to support this groundbreaking report, which sheds light on these atrocities and equips policymakers with the knowledge to counter such destructive practices and uphold the dignity of human connection."
Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, expert in law and technology and a Senior Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute
the first "phygital war." This new type of war blurs the lines between organized military operations and acts of terror. Hamas combined the coordination of a structured army with the brutality of terror, targeting the very fabric of Israeli society. Their goal went beyond physical destruction to deliberately dismantle the social contract through a “theater of terror,” designed to instill fear, destabilize communities, and erode basic trust in individuals and institutions. At its core, the attacks symbolize a multi-layered penetration—of fences, homes, bodies, and digital devices. Each act carried not only physical harm but profound metaphorical significance, as attackers weaponized every form of entry to shatter family bonds. The use of victims’ devices to spread these horrors underscores the phygital nature of this war and the urgent need to recognize kinocide as a distinct crime. This report is crucial for exposing Kinocide - this weaponization of families and guiding efforts to confront and prevent such atrocities."
Masih Alinejad, Iranian-American journalist, author, and women's rights activist
“On Saturday morning, October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a widespread attack against Israel’s civilian population, at a time when most families were at home, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250 into Gaza. As this report notes, the attacks did not spare women and children, and specially targeted families within residential communities. These attacks were designed to destroy the family unit, to maximize the harm to families, and to wipe out these communities. The weaponization of families is neither new nor unique to the October 7 attack but it is time we recognized kinocide as a new international crime. Deliberate targeting of families should be recognized as constituting a new form of international crime.”