The United States has announced criminal charges against top Hamas leaders for their role in planning, supporting and executing the October 7 attack in southern Israel.
Details of the complaint Yahya Sinwar, leader of the militant groupand at least five others, accuse them of orchestrating the attack that left 1,200 people dead, including more than 40 Americans.
The attack triggered an Israeli offensive against Gaza that left more than 40,800 Palestinians dead and left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins.
“As described in the complaint, the defendants obtained weapons, political support, and funds from the Iranian government, [Hezbollah] “Hamas has led the effort to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians to achieve that goal,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“The charges announced today are only part of our efforts to target all aspects of Hamas' operations, and these actions will not be our last,” Garland said. “Yahya Sinwar and other senior Hamas officials were indicted today on charges of orchestrating this terrorist organization's decades-long massive campaign of violence and terror, including on October 7th.”
The indictment names six defendants, three of whom are deceased. The surviving defendants are Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding out in Gaza, Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Doha and heads the group's overseas offices, and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.
The dead defendants are Ismail Haniyeh, a former Hamas leader who was assassinated in Tehran in July, Mohammed Deif, a military commander whom Israel claims to have killed in an airstrike in July, and Marwan Issa, a deputy military commander whom Israel claims to have killed in an attack in March.
Iran has blamed Israel for Haniya's death. Israeli authorities have not admitted responsibility.
U.S. prosecutors indicted six people in February but kept the charges secret in hopes of arresting Haniyeh, a Justice Department official said.
The Justice Department decided to make the charges public after Haniyeh's death.
