The United States announced criminal charges against top Hamas leaders for their role in planning, supporting, and carrying out the 7 October attack in southern Israel.
Washington accuses Yahya Sinwar and at least five others of orchestrating the 7 October attack that killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 US citizens. The assault triggered the Israeli offensive on Gaza, which killed more than 40,800 Palestinians.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated:
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.
The complaint names six defendants, three of whom are deceased. The living defendants are Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, Khaled Meshaal in Doha, and Ali Baraka in Lebanon.
The fallen accused are former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in Tehran in July, Mohammed Deif, head of the military wing, killed in an airstrike the same month, and Marwan Issa, a deputy military commander killed in a March strike.
Iran blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death. However, Israeli officials did not claim responsibility.
According to a Justice Department spokesman, the US Attorney’s Office filed charges against the six men in February but kept the complaint secret in hopes of catching Haniyeh. The ministry decided to make the charges public after his death.
