The United States Attorney General, Merrick Garland filed criminal charges in a federal court in New York on Tuesday against six Hamas leaders, including its top leader, Yahya Sinwar, for the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7 and for his previous activities.
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Garland’s complaint in federal court cites crimes such as terrorism, conspiracy to murder and even money laundering, and acknowledges that three of those accused (including Ismael Haniyeh, killed in Tehran on July 31) are dead, while the others remain on the run.
The other two defendants who died are Mohammad Al Masri, alias Mohammed Deif, head of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, who lost his life in southern Gaza last July; and Marwan Issa, “Abu Baraa”, deputy commander of these brigades, who died in March also in the Gaza Strip.
Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas.
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In addition to Sinwar, the current Hamas political leader also known as “Abu Ibrahim,” Khaled Meshaal, alias “Abu al Waleed,” and Ali Baraka are also accused.
Garland justified the filing of these charges in the US by the participation of these six Hamas leaders in “financing, directing and overseeing a multi-decade campaign to kill American citizens and endanger U.S. national security,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
“Yahya Sinwar and other senior Hamas leaders are accused today of orchestrating this terrorist organization’s decades-long campaign of mass violence and terror, including on October 7,” he added.
Garland specified that For three decades Hamas “has killed thousands of civilians, including dozens of American citizens,” and that on October 7, nearly 1,200 people were killed, 40 of whom were Americans.
Ismail Haniyeh at the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
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One of the six hostages found dead last weekend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was also an American.
Hamas also kidnapped 251 people, of whom 97 are still held in Gaza and 33 were killed, according to the Israeli army.
“We are investigating Hersh’s murder and every brutal crime against Americans as acts of terrorism,” Garland added.
The attorney general said these acts are just the beginning, “and they will not be the last, “Because the Justice Department has a long memory: we will pursue the terrorists responsible for the murder of Americans, and those who support them, until the end of their days,” he promised.
Garland did not forget to mention the Iranian government and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah as those who arm and give political support to Hamas in its attempts to “destroy the State of Israel.”
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