The United States has charged top leaders of the Hamas militant group over its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel, a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday revealed. According to AFP, six men, including the late political leader Ismail Haniyeh, have been named in the charging document dated February 1.
The Guardian reported that the seven-count criminal complaint includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy to murder US nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons for mass destruction, resulting in death. It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, as well as military supplies .
The Hamas leaders were charged with orchestrating the October 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people and culminated in the militant group taking 251 people hostage, of which over 90 remain in Gaza (33 presumed dead). Several American citizens were killed in the attack. Israeli retaliated by launching an offensive on Hamas-controlled Gaza, which has so far resulted in the death of over 40,800 Palestinians and widespread devastation across the territory.
The criminal complaint also "covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas", BBC reported.
The charges were filed under seal "to position the United States to be ready to take into custody" Haniyeh and the other defendants, an official from the US Justice Department said, according to AFP. Of the six defendants named, three are dead. The others include Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in Gaza, Khaled Meshaal, based in Doha and heading 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 was killed in July in Tehran, military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel claimed was killed in a July airstrike, and Marwan Issa, a deputy military commander who Israel reported killing in a March airstrike. Iran has also blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death. However, Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility, reported The Guardian.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the charges are just a “part of our effort to target” every aspect of Hamas’ operations. He added that “it will not be the last”. "Yahya Sinwar and the other senior leaders of Hamas are charged today with orchestrating this terrorist organisation's decades-long campaign of mass violence and terror — including on October 7."
In his statement, Garland noted that the October 7, which saw Hamas murder "entire families" is "the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust".
The Guardian report says the criminal complaint describes the massacre as the “most violent, large-scale terrorist attack” in Hamas’ history. It details how Hamas operatives arrived in southern Israel with “trucks, motorcycles, bulldozers, speedboats, and paragliders” engaged in a brutal campaign of violence that included rape, genital mutilation and machine-gun shootings at close range.