Do you count the U.N. and Amnesty as credible sources? I asked Google A1, "Did Palestinian civilians take part in the attacks on Israel on Oct 7, 2023?" Below is some of what came in answer. I don't want to run afoul of board rules by quoting too heavily from AI. "Yes. International investigations and media reports confirmed that some Palestinian civilians from Gaza crossed the border and took part in the October 7, 2023, attacks alongside members of Hamas and other armed groups. Official Findings and Reports The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in its reports that not only members of Hamas's military wing and other armed groups took part, but also individual Palestinian civilians who directly participated in the hostilities. The UN inquiry found that these civilian participants engaged in killings, mistreatment, looting, and hostage-taking in southern Israeli communities." In its report from December, 2025 (Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory: Targeting Civilians: Murder, Hostage-Taking and Other Violations by Palestinian Armed Groups in Israel and Gaza). Amnesty says in its Conclusion (section 10.1, p. 167) that Hamas and other armed groups were responsible for most of the violence on Oct. 7, but "unaffiliated Palestinian civilians from Gaza in some instances ... were responsible to a lesser extent." https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/0282/2025/en/ Basically, what happened is that Hamas put out a call for civilians to take part in the attack and once the border was breached, the civilians streamed into Israel mainly to loot and kidnap hostages for ransom, but also to kill. The Palestinian shown in a video attempting to behead a Thai agricultural worker is thought to have been a Palestinian civilian.
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