US files terrorism charges against Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar
A little more than a month after the first anniversary of 7 October and the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the US has filed charges against leaders of the terrorist group, including Yahya Sinwar.
In addition to Sinwar, recently appointed Hamas leader following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the other senior commanders charged include Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of the Gaza formation who was involved in planning the October attack; Khaled Mashaal, an associate of Hanieyh; Mohammed Deif, commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades; Ali Baraka, the organisation's foreign relations leader; and Haniyeh.
Israel has confirmed the deaths of Mohammed Deif and Mawan Issa in separate attacks in recent months, while Sinwar is believed to be hiding in a tunnel in Gaza. The other two leaders still alive, Khaled Mashaal and Ali Baraka, are in Qatar and Lebanon respectively.
The Justice Department confirmed that the criminal complaint was filed in federal court in New York and includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, resulting in death, terrorism and sanctions evasion.
The US indictment also refers to the sexual violence employed by Hamas during the 7 October attack, highlighting ‘rape and genital mutilation’. It also recalls that terrorists ‘targeted and shot civilians, including children, sometimes with machine guns and sometimes at point-blank range’.
The report also details some of the atrocities of that day, such as the mass execution of young people attending the Nova music festival, the abduction of the bodies of Shani Louk and Shiri Bibas and her two young children, attacks on an ambulance and the abduction of elderly women.
As Attorney General Merrick Garland has stressed, these charges are ‘only part of an effort to target all aspects of Hamas’ operations', and he assures that this action 'will not be the last'.
‘As stated in our complaint, these defendants - armed, politically supported and funded by the Government of Iran and Hezbollah - have directed Hamas's efforts to destroy the State of Israel and to murder civilians in support of that goal, including 40 Americans,’ Garland added.
The claim comes just days after the Israel Defense Forces found the lifeless bodies of six hostages kidnapped in Rafah on 7 October, one of them, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American. The 23-year-old California native was killed by Hamas along with five other Israelis - two women - just hours before Israeli troops found their bodies in a tunnel in southern Gaza.
After confirming Goldberg-Polin's death, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Hamas leaders would pay for the crime, stressing that the terrorist organisation ‘has even more American blood on its hands’.
