Sept 3 (Reuters) – 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.
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.
U.S. 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.
Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; editing by Rami Ayyub and Eric Beech
Sept. 3 (Reuters) – On Tuesday, the US announced criminal charges against the top Hamas figures for their roles in organizing, sponsoring, and carrying out the disastrous Oct. 7 assault in Israel’s south.
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the militant group, and five other individuals are charged with planning the October incident. 7 attack, in which 1,200 people—more than 40 Americans among them—died.
A large portion of the territory has been destroyed and over 40,800 Palestinians have died as a result of the Israeli assault on Gaza that followed that attack.
Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement saying, “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.”.
Three of the six defendants listed in the complaint have passed away. The remaining defendants are Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon; Sinwar, who is thought to be hiding in Gaza; and Khaled Meshaal, who oversees the organization’s office in the diaspora and is based in Doha.
The defendants who have departed from this life are Ismail Haniyeh, the former leader of Hamas, who the group claims was killed in July in Tehran; Mohammed Deif, the head of the military wing, whom Israel claims it killed in an airstrike in July; and Marwan Issa, the deputy military commander, whom Israel claims it killed in a strike in March.
Iran claims that Israel killed Haniyeh. Israeli officials have not acknowledged guilt.
You. S. As per an official from the Justice Department, prosecutors filed charges against the six men in February, but they refiled the complaint to avoid jeopardizing Haniyeh’s capture.
Following Haniyeh’s passing, the Justice Department made the decision to make the charges public.
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Contributing Reports: Sarah N. Eric Beech and Rami Ayyub edited the work with Lynch and Andrew Goudsward.
