The United States has announced criminal charges against senior leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) for their roles in planning, supporting and executing the October 7 attack on Israel, which the movement called Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa.
The charges against the movement’s political bureau chief, Yahya Sinwar, and at least five others included planning the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli statistics, some of whom held American citizenship.
Following this attack, Israel – with American support – launched a continuous aggression for about 11 months on the Gaza Strip, an aggression that has so far resulted in more than 135 thousand Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10 thousand missing, amidst massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children.
The lawsuit includes the names of 6 defendants, including the head of the movement’s political bureau, Yahya Sinwar, in addition to the former head of the bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, whom Hamas announced on the morning of July 31, 2024, had been assassinated in a raid on his residence in the capital, Tehran.
The accused also include the commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif (Mohammed Al-Masry), Khaled Meshaal, Marwan Issa, and Ali Baraka.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Iranian-backed defendants led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and kill civilians in support of that goal.
He considered that this measure is only part of his country’s efforts to target all aspects of Hamas operations, and that it will not be the last.
U.S. prosecutors filed charges against the six men in February, but kept the case under seal in hopes of capturing Haniyeh, a Justice Department official said.
The announcement comes in the wake of the killing of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Bolin in Gaza, after which President Joe Biden and other senior US officials pledged to hold Hamas leaders accountable, they said.
