US charges Hamas leader over October 7 attack on Israel

The United States has filed charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other prominent figures in the Palestinian group in connection with their deadly attack in Israel on October 7 last year.

The Justice Department said it was indicting six Hamas members on seven counts, including the murder of dozens of U.S. citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction.

The criminal complaint allegedly covers Hamas attacks spanning several decades as well as the unprecedented attack last October.

This is the first step by US law enforcement authorities to hold the masterminds of the attack to account. However, analysts see the incident as partly symbolic, not least because some of the people named in the indictment are already dead.

It is now believed that Sinwar is hiding in tunnels somewhere beneath Gaza.

In a video message 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' efforts to destroy the State of Israel and to murder civilians in support of that goal,” Garland said.

He referred to Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, in which the group “murdered entire families” and was “the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

Mr Garland said: “They murdered the elderly and young children. They used sexual violence against women as a weapon, including rape and female genital mutilation.”

The charges were filed in February but were kept sealed until Tuesday in case the U.S. had the opportunity to arrest any of the defendants, an unnamed Justice Department official told CBS News, the BBC's U.S. partner.

The Justice Department's lawsuit states that at least 43 U.S. citizens were killed on October 7.

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

The allegations themselves are partly about the US sending “a message” to Hamas and anyone working with the group, added Prof. Yossi Mekelberg, associate fellow at the British think tank Chatham House.

The message the US wanted to send was: “We will pursue you, dead or alive,” said Professor Mekelberg.

In his comments, Mr Garland referred to the Israeli-American man found dead in Gaza over the weekend, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, as well as the other American citizens killed or taken hostage in the October 7 attack.

“We are investigating Hersh's murder and every single brutal Hamas murder of Americans as an act of terrorism,” Garland said.

President Joe Biden had also previously condemned the killing of Goldberg-Polin, calling it “as tragic as it is reprehensible.”

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

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

If convicted, the group faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

In addition to Sinwar, other Hamas leaders are accused, including former leader Ismail Haniyeh, Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of the organization's armed wing, Khaled Mashaal, who leads the group outside the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as Mohammed Deif and Ali Baraka.

Haniyeh, Issa and Deif were reportedly killed in recent months in attacks that were either claimed by Israel or attributed to Israel.

The Justice Department’s complaint states that all “defendants are either deceased or still at large.”

It remains to be seen whether this move will have an impact on American efforts to pressure Israel into a ceasefire and hostage release with Hamas.

A US official told the Associated Press anonymously that there was no reason to believe the development would affect ongoing talks.

However, Professor Mekelberg believes this could affect Sinwar's thinking. “I don't think this will encourage him to show flexibility,” he said.

In another new development related to the Gaza conflict, Britain defended its decision to ban the sale of certain weapons to Israel, citing concerns about their possible use in the Palestinian territories.

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

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, more than 40,000 people have been killed since then in the ongoing Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.