Federal prosecutors charged Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, and five senior members of the group with planning and carrying out years of terrorist attacks in Israel, including the October 7 massacre, according to a complaint unsealed on Tuesday.
The criminal complaint, originally filed in New York in February, implicated two other senior members of Hamas not previously thought to be directly involved in the attacks. It also listed the number of Americans believed to have died at 43.
The other leaders named are Ismail Haniyeh, who had overseen Hamas’ political office in Qatar; Mohammed Deif, the commander of the group’s military wing; Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of the group’s military wing; Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Beirut; and Khaled Mashaal, a former political leader of the group who remains a top official. Deif and Issa were killed in Israeli airstrikes during the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh, a top negotiator in cease-fire talks, was assassinated in Iran after a bomb was covertly smuggled into the guesthouse where he was staying.
Mashaal, who resides in Qatar, and Haniyeh were not known to be involved in carrying out the October 7 attacks. The two men, along with Baraka, were all outside Gaza when the attacks happened, catching Israel by surprise. Haniyeh was living in Doha, Qatar, before his death.
American and Israeli intelligence believed the plans surrounding the attack were a closely guarded secret, known only by a select few inside Gaza such as Sinwar and Deif. If true, the US government’s charges against the political members of Hamas could cast a different light on the group’s activities.
The charges come at a politically fraught moment as the White House tries to save ceasefire talks and after the disclosure over the weekend that Hamas executed six hostages in Gaza, including a 23-year-old Israeli American.
The young man, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was among the roughly 250 who were taken on October 7. He was badly wounded but thought to be alive before Hamas killed him. Seven more Americans remain in Gaza, but three are believed to have died either on October 7 or shortly after.
New York Times News Service