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The US has indicted Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other prominent figures in the Palestinian group for alleged connection with its deadly attack in Israel on 7 October last year.
According to the US justice department, the indictees were charged with the murder of US citizens, conspiracy of finance, terrorism and the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The criminal complaint covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas, as well as the unprecedented assault on southern Israel nearly a year ago.
Among those indicted, the US law enforcement agency said up to three of those named are dead and Sinwar is believed to be hiding in tunnels somewhere under Gaza.
In a video statement, Mr Garland Merrick, the Attorney General of the United States, said the defendants were responsible for “financing and directing a decade-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States”.
Merrick said, "The group also led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim.
“They murdered the elderly and they murdered young children. They weaponised sexual violence against women, including rape and genital mutilation.”
He added that during the attack, the group “murdered over 1,200 people” and “perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”.
Other Hamas leaders charged include former leader Ismail Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of the organisation’s armed wing; Khaled Mashaal, who leads the group outside Gaza and the West Bank; along with Mohammed Deif and Ali Baraka.
The charges include conspiracy to bomb a place of public use resulting in death, conspiracy to finance terrorism and material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death.
The justice department’s complaint notes that all the “defendants are either deceased or remain at large”.
Haniyeh, Issa and Deif have all been reported killed in the past few months in attacks that were attributed to Israel.
The attorney general referred in Tuesday’s remarks to the killing last week of US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in addition to 42 other American citizens killed in the 7 October attack and 10 taken hostage.
“We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism,” Mr Garland said.
If convicted, the group faces a maximum penalty of life in prison or a death sentence.
A source who pleaded anonymity and an official of the Justice department told CBS News that the charges were filed in February, but were kept under wraps until Tuesday in case the US had the opportunity to arrest any of the accused.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas killing of Goldberg-Polin, calling it “as tragic as it is reprehensible”.
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Biden said.
Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s ongoing military campaign, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
