"Cruel" here is being used in a moral sense (it's immoral to be cruel). But if we have no objective morality, then our moral judgments are subjective and hence meaningless as far as being proofs of anything.
So if you say "The fact that atheists go to hell is an immoral act on the part of God," you have uttered a mere subjective statement which proves nothing one way or another about God.
If there is no God, then our morality is subjective.
You would need an objective morality, provided by God, to prove that God is cruel.