US charges Hamas leaders over deadly oct 7 attack on Israel

The United States (US) has charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other prominent figures in the Palestinian group in connection with its deadly attack in Israel on 7 October last year.

The justice department said it was indicting six Hamas members with seven charges, including the murder of at least 43 American citizens who were killed on 7 October, and conspiracy to finance terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction.

The criminal complaint covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas, as well as last October’s unprecedented assault.

this is the first step by US law enforcement to hold accountable the ringleaders of that attack but has been seen by analysts as partly symbolic, not least because some of those named in the indictment are already dead.

In a video statement on Tuesday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the defendants were responsible for “financing and directing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States”.

“The group also led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim”

“They murdered the elderly and they murdered young children. They weaponized sexual violence against women, including rape and genital mutilation.”

Garland further condemned the killing of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Gaza, as well as the deaths and hostage-taking of other American citizens in the October 7 attack.

‘We are investigating Hersh’s, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as acts of terrorism,” he stressed.

An unnamed justice department official told the newsmen that the charges were filed in February, but were kept under wraps until Tuesday in case the US had the opportunity to arrest any of the accused.

The reason for the timing of the US charges was not immediately clear, although the recent discovery in Gaza of the body of an Israeli-American hostage – and five others – might have given the move “extra impetus”, one analyst said.

The charges themselves were partly about the US sending “a message” to Hamas and anyone working with the group, added Prof Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow of the UK think tank Chatham House.


President Joe Biden earlier condemned Goldberg-Polin’s killing, too, calling it “as tragic as it is reprehensible”.

“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Mr Biden said.

The charges include conspiracy to bomb a place of public use resulting in death, conspiracy to finance terrorism, and material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death.

If convicted, the group faces a maximum penalty of life in prison or a death sentence.

Alongside Sinwar, other Hamas leaders charged include former leader Ismail Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of the organization’s armed wing; Khaled Mashaal, who leads the group outside Gaza and the West Bank; along with Mohammed Deif and Ali Baraka.

Haniyeh, Issa, and Deif have all been reported killed in the past few months in attacks that were either claimed by or attributed to Israel.

Meanwhile, the chosen Hamas leader, Sinwar, is believed to be hiding in tunnels somewhere under Gaza.

The US Justice Department’s complaint notes that the defendants are either dead or remain at large.

It is unclear whether this move will influence US efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas.

According to a US official who anonymously spoke to the Associated Press, there is no indication that the development will disrupt the ongoing talks.”

But Prof Mekelberg felt it could affect Sinwar’s mindset. “I don’t think this will be encouraging him to show flexibility,” he said.

In a new development related to the conflict in Gaza, the UK has defended its decision to ban some weapons sales to Israel over concerns about how they might be used in the Palestinian territory.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then in Israel’s ongoing military campaign, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.