The US Justice Department has charged several Hamas leaders with the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday (3).
The indictment is the first step in a criminal case by the Justice Department to hold individuals accountable for the attack.
The five defendants — Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka — are facing seven charges, including terrorism, conspiracy to murder American citizens and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.
These people are high-ranking Hamas officials. Sinwar is the organization’s leader in Gaza and one of the planners of the October 7 attack.
The announcement comes after the death of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin in the Gaza Strip, prompting President Joe Biden and other senior US officials to vow that Hamas leaders would be held accountable.
“We will consider further action as appropriate,” a government official said.
Biden said over the weekend that Goldberg-Polin’s death was “as tragic as it is reprehensible.”
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” the US president stressed.
This content was originally published in US court files charges against Hamas leaders for attack on Israel on CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil

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