Washington: The United States on Tuesday announced criminal charges against top leaders of the Hamas group for their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the October 7 attack in southern Israel, which killed over 1,200 people and began the devastating war in Gaza. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was among those named in the charges for killing at least 40 Americans.
The US Justice Department accused the Hamas leaders of murder and kidnappings of countless innocent civilians, including American citizens, "which was the culmination of Hamas' decades-long campaign of terrorism and violence against Israel and its allies". Sinwar, former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, former military chief Mohammad Deif, ex-deputy commander Marwan Issa, and senior officials Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka have been named in the complaint. Three of them are deceased.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organisation in the United States since 1997 and is believed to have perpetrated attacks not only against Israel, its key enemy, but also against the US and its citizens for over two decades, murdering and injuring dozens of Americans. The complaint against the Hamas leaders include charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiring to murder US nationals, using weapons of mass destruction, financing terrorism and more.
'Will not rest until...': US on Hamas attacks
"On October 7th, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians. This weekend, we learned that Hamas murdered an additional six people they had kidnapped and held captive for nearly a year, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli-American. We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism. The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations. These actions will not be our last," said US Attorney-General Merrick Garland.
Lisa Monaco, the US Deputy Attorney General, said Hamas terrorists "viciously massacred nearly 1,200 innocent men, women, and children, including over 40 Americans, kidnapped hundreds more, and used sexual violence as a weapon of brutality" and promised that the department "would not rest until all those who have been kidnapped and murdered are brought to justice".
"From the moment Hamas launched its horrific attack on October 7, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has been dedicated to identifying and charging those responsible for these heinous crimes. The FBI has and will continue to relentlessly investigate these attacks on civilians, including Americans," said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Israel-Hamas war in Gaza
Hamas' attack on Israel last year triggered a brutal retaliation that has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians and has laid waste to most of the Gaza Strip, leaving a majority of the population homeless. Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in July in Iran, Mohammed Deif was killed in a July airstrike and Marwan Issa was reportedly killed in a March strike.
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. It decided to go public with the charges after Haniyeh's death in Tehran.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed at least 35 Palestinians across Gaza on Tuesday as they battled Hamas-led militants, according to Palestinian officials. However, brief pauses in fighting allowed medics to conduct a third day of polio vaccinations for children. Among those killed were four women in the southern city of Rafah and eight people near a hospital in Gaza City in the north, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were battling Israeli forces in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, and also in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it was ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza on Tuesday and had vaccinated about a quarter of children under 10.
(with Reuters inputs)
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