The United States has accused Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other prominent figures in the Palestinian organization of involvement in the deadly attack in Israel on October 7 last year.
The Justice Department said it was indicting six Hamas members on charges including murdering U.S. citizens, conspiring to finance terrorism and using weapons of mass destruction.
The criminal complaint covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas, as well as an unprecedented assault on southern Israel nearly a year ago.
It is the first step in U.S. law enforcement efforts to hold those responsible for the Oct. 7 attack, even though three of the attackers named in the indictment are dead and Sinwar is believed to be hiding in a tunnel somewhere beneath Gaza.
Garland said in a video statement on Tuesday that the defendants were responsible for “funding and directing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States.”
The group also “leads Hamas to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of this goal”.
He pointed to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which the group “murdered entire families,” as “the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
“They murdered the elderly, they murdered young children. They weaponized sexual violence against women, including rape and genital mutilation.”
He added that in the attacks, the group “murdered more than 1,200 people” and “carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
Other Hamas leaders charged include former leader Ismail Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, deputy leader of the group’s armed wing; and Khaled Mashaal, who led the militant group The organization outside of Salvador and the West Bank; with Mohamed Deif and Ali Baraka.
The charges include conspiring to bomb a public place causing death, conspiring to finance terrorism and providing material support for a terrorist act causing death.
The DOJ complaint states that all “defendants are either deceased or remain at large.”
Haniyeh, Issa and Deif were all reportedly killed in attacks claimed by or attributed to Israel over the past few months.
In his speech on Tuesday, the attorney general referred to last week’s killing of 23-year-old U.S.-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in addition to the killing of 42 U.S. citizens in October. 7 people were killed in the attack and 10 of them were taken hostage.
“We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and every brutal murder of Americans by Hamas, as an act of terrorism,” Garland said.
If convicted, the group faces up to life in prison or the death penalty.
An unnamed Justice Department official told BBC US partner CBS News that the charges were filed in February but were kept secret until Tuesday to prevent the United States from having an opportunity to arrest any defendants.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden condemned Hamas’ killing of Goldberg-Poulin, calling it “tragic and reprehensible.”
“There is no doubt that Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Biden said.
At the same time, the UK Defended its decision to ban some arms sales to Israel Concerns about how they might be used in Gaza.
Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.
Since then, ongoing Israeli military operations have killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
