The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday the unsealing of terrorism, murder conspiracy and sanctions-evasion charges against six senior Hamas leaders.
The charges follow the discovery of six hostages’ bodies, including 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges against Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal, Ali Baraka and Ismail Haniyeh, all allegedly involved in “orchestrating this terrorist organization’s decades-long campaign of mass violence and terror,” including the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. (RELATED: Israeli Forces Rescue Hostage In Gaza)
“The Justice Department has charged Yahya Sinwar and other senior leaders of Hamas for financing, directing, and overseeing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States. On October 7th, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians,” Garland said, according to the statement.
Mourners gather by the grave of killed US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin whose body was recovered with five other hostages in Gaza, during the funeral at Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“This weekend, we learned that Hamas murdered an additional six people they had kidnapped and held captive for nearly a year, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23 year old Israeli American,” Garland continued. “We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism. The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations. These actions will not be our last.”
The charges by the department are directly related to the six leaders’ roles “in planning, supporting, and perpetrating the terrorist atrocities,” which involve the “murders and kidnappings of countless innocent civilians, including American citizens.”
The Israeli military on Saturday found the bodies of two women and four men who were captured by Hamas during the terrorist organization’s attack on Israel. The six bodies were discovered during an operation in southern Gaza and confirmed to be the identities of Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Carmel Gat, 40, Almog Sarusi, 27, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Master Sgt. Ori Danino, 25, in addition to Goldberg-Polin.
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