The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday (September 3) that criminal charges have been filed against top Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, for planning and leading the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of over a thousand civilians, including more than forty American citizens.
The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that criminal charges have been brought against six senior leaders of the terrorist organization Hamas, accusing them of terrorism, conspiracy to commit murder, and other crimes.
In a statement, the Department of Justice stated, “These charges relate to the central roles played by the defendants in planning, supporting, and carrying out the terrorism perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel (the October 7 Hamas massacre), which involved the murder and kidnapping of numerous innocent civilians, including American citizens. It represents the pinnacle of Hamas’ decades-long terrorism and violence against Israel and its allies, including American citizens.”
“The defendants are still at large,” the statement continued. “They are senior Hamas leaders who planned, supported, and carried out the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, resulting in the brutal killing of over a thousand innocent civilians, including more than forty American citizens.”
The indictment lists six defendants, three of whom are deceased. The living defendants include Sinwar, who officially succeeded the late former top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as the head of the Hamas Political Bureau and is believed to be currently in hiding in Gaza; Haniyeh’s deputy Khaled Meshaal, based in Doha, overseeing Hamas’ foreign offices; and Ali Baraka, responsible for Hamas’ external relations and a senior official in Lebanon.
Among the deceased defendants is former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the mastermind behind the Israeli raid on October 7 last year, who was assassinated in Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president in July.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed the lawsuit in a federal court in New York, charging seven criminal counts including conspiracy to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, conspiracy to murder American citizens, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.
The Department of Justice stated that U.S. prosecutors had brought charges against these six individuals as early as February, but had kept them confidential in hopes of apprehending Haniyeh. With Haniyeh’s death, the need for secrecy diminished, prompting the Department of Justice to publicly reveal the indictment.
In a video statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “The charges unveiled today are just one part of our efforts against Hamas. These actions are not our final ones.”