WASHINGTON: The United States Justice Department has announced criminal charges against top leaders of Hamas over their roles in the October 7 attacks in southern Israel in what some see as a largely symbolic move against the Palestinian organisation.
Six defendants, three of whom are deceased, were named in the complaint unsealed on Tuesday.
The deceased defendants are former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in July in Tehran; Mohammed Deif, who was killed in an Israel air strike on Gaza in July; and Marwan Issa, whom Israel said it killed in an attack in March.
The living defendants are Hamas’s new leader Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be 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.
“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,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The US charges come as the White House says it is developing a new ceasefire and captive deal proposal with its Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to try to bring an end to fighting in Gaza.
Agencies
US charges Hamas leaders over Oct 7
