US charges Hamas leaders over 7 October attack on Israel

  04 September 2024    Read: 782
US charges Hamas leaders over 7 October attack on Israel

The US has charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other prominent figures in the Palestinian group in connection with its deadly attack in Israel on 7 October last year.

The justice department said it was indicting six Hamas members with seven charges, including the murder of dozens of US citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction, AzVision.az reports citing BBC. 

The criminal complaint covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas, as well as last October's unprecedented assault.

It is the first step by US law enforcement to hold accountable the ringleaders of that attack, but has been seen by analysts as partly symbolic, not least because some of those named in the indictment are already dead.

Meanwhile, Sinwar is believed to be hiding in tunnels somewhere under Gaza.

In a video statement 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's efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim", Mr Garland said.

He highlighted the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, in which the group "murdered entire families" in "the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust".

 

AzVision.az


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