The United States announced criminal charges on Tuesday against Hamas’ top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the Oct. 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.
That attack triggered an Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians and laid waste to much of the territory.
“As outlined in our complaint, those defendants — armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from (Hezbollah) – have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Demonstrators light candles as man during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Israeli Defence Ministry in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on September 3, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the militant Hamas group. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP).
The complaint names six defendants, three of whom are deceased. The living defendants are Sinwar, who is believed to be in hiding in Gaza; Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Doha and heads the group’s diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.
The deceased defendants are former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who the group says was assassinated in July in Tehran; military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel says it killed in a July airstrike; and Marwan Issa, a deputy military commander who Israel said it killed in a March strike.
Iran has blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death. Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility.
‘Not the last’
US prosecutors brought charges against the six men in February, but kept the complaint under seal in hopes of capturing Haniyeh, according to a Justice Department official.
The Justice Department decided to go public with the charges after Haniyeh’s death.
The document also contained a request for the arrest of the individuals.
“The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations. These actions will not be our last,” Garland said.
“Yahya Sinwar and the other senior leaders of Hamas are charged today with orchestrating this terrorist organization’s decades-long campaign of mass violence and terror — including on October 7th.”
Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday called for urgency and flexibility to finalize an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a truce in Gaza, after the recent deaths of six hostages.
“There are dozens of hostages still remaining in Gaza, still waiting for a deal that will bring them home. It is time to finalize that deal,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Final agreement
“The people of Israel cannot afford to wait any longer. The Palestinian people, who are also suffering the terrible effects of this war, cannot afford to wait any longer. The world cannot afford to wait any longer,” Miller said.
Miller said that the United States will work “over the coming days” with mediators Egypt and Qatar “to push for a final agreement.”
One key sticking point has been Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Israeli troops remain at the border between Gaza and Egypt.
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