美国司法部(Justice Department)周二公布了针对哈马斯(Hamas)多名高级领导人的指控，指控他们涉嫌在该恐怖组织10月7日袭击以色列期间参与绑架和谋杀美国人。
在纽约南区公开的刑事起诉书中，列出了哈马斯领导机构的六名成员，并详细列举了他们被指控代表该组织从事的恐怖活动。
诉状详细列出了对哈马斯领导人的七项刑事指控，包括阴谋向外国恐怖主义团体提供物质支持并导致死亡，阴谋为恐怖主义行为提供物质支持并导致死亡，阴谋谋杀美国国民，阴谋轰炸公共场所并导致死亡，阴谋使用大规模杀伤性武器并导致死亡，以及阴谋违反《国际紧急经济权力法》。
在刑事诉讼中被点名的人包括哈马斯领导人伊斯梅尔·哈尼亚于7月在伊朗被暗杀，以及叶海亚·辛瓦尔他被美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯形容为停火谈判中的“主要决策者”。
名单上的其他被告是穆罕默德·马斯里、马尔万·伊萨、哈立德·迈沙阿勒和阿里·巴拉卡。
一名DOJ官员告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，这些指控是在2月份提出的，并被封存，因为DOJ希望能够将哈尼亚和其他涉嫌参与阴谋的成员带到美国拘留，他补充说，现在已经没有必要这样做，因为六名被指控的人中有三人已经死亡，并且考虑到该地区最近的发展。
司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)在宣布起诉书公开的一份声明中说，这些指控指控该组织资助并指挥了一场“长达数十年的谋杀美国公民和危害美国安全的运动”。
加兰说:“正如我们在诉状中概述的那样，这些被告——他们拥有武器，得到伊朗政府的政治支持和资助，并得到真主党的支持——领导哈马斯努力摧毁以色列国，并杀害平民以支持这一目标。”在过去三十年的袭击中，哈马斯杀害或伤害了数千名平民，包括数十名美国公民。"
加兰周二在一份声明中进一步证实，司法部正在积极调查哈马斯在周末谋杀了六名人质，包括拥有美国和以色列双重国籍的公民赫什·戈德堡-波林。
“今天公布的指控只是我们针对哈马斯行动各个方面的努力的一部分。加兰说:“这些行动不会是我们的最后一次。司法部记性很好。我们将终生追捕那些谋杀美国人的恐怖分子，以及那些非法为他们提供物质支持的人。"
根据以色列当局的说法，哈马斯于2023年10月7日从加沙地带通过空中、陆地和海上对以色列南部进行了前所未有的入侵，造成1200多人死亡，另有253人被劫为人质。官员称现在加沙还有97名人质。在上周末六名人质被杀之前，美国和以色列官员估计，只有不到50人还活着。
12名美国公民在哈马斯10月7日的袭击中被带走。作为停火协议的一部分，其中两人于10月底获释，另外两人于11月获释。在仍被关押在加沙的八名美国人中，四人已被宣布死亡。美国和以色列官员认为另外四人可能还活着。
根据哈马斯控制的加沙卫生部的数据，自10月7日以来，在以色列持续的地面行动和对加沙地带的空中轰炸中，加沙已有超过40，800名巴勒斯坦人死亡，超过94，200人受伤。
DOJ charges senior Hamas leaders over involvement in Americans' deaths during Oct. 7 attack on Israel
The Justice Department unsealed charges Tuesday targeting multiple senior members of Hamas' leadership for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of Americans during the terror group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, names six members of Hamas' leadership structure and details extensively their alleged terrorist activities on behalf of the group.
The complaint details seven criminal charges against the Hamas leaders including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group resulting in death, conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use resulting in death, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Among those named in the criminal complaint areIsmail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader assassinated in Iran in July, andYahya Sinwar, who has been described by Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the "primary decider" in cease-fire negotiations.
The other defendants listed are Mohammad Al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka.
The charges were filed in February and kept under seal because the DOJ was hoping to be able to take Haniyeh and other members of the alleged conspiracy into U.S. custody, a DOJ official told ABC News, who added that it was no longer necessary to do so since three of the six charged are now deceased and given the recent developments in the region.
The charges accuse the group of financing and directing a "decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the complaint's unsealing.
"As outlined in our complaint, those defendants -- armed with weapons, political support and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from Hizballah [Hezbollah] -- have led Hamas' efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim," Garland said. "In its attacks over the past three decades, Hamas has murdered or injured thousands of civilians, including dozens of American citizens."
Garland further confirmed in a statement Tuesday that the Justice Department is actively investigatingHamas' murder of six hostages over the weekend, including dual American Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
"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," Garland said. "The Justice Department has a long memory. We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans -- and those who illegally provide them with material support -- for the rest of their lives."
Hamas carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Officials say there are now 97 hostages remaining in Gaza. Before the killing of the six hostages over the weekend, U.S. and Israeli officials had assessed that fewer than 50 were still living.
Twelve American citizens were taken during Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks. Two were released in late October, and two more were freed in November as part of a cease-fire deal. Of the eight Americans who remain detained in Gaza, four have been declared dead. U.S. and Israeli officials believe that four others could be alive.
More than 40,800 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,200 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, amid Israel's ongoing ground operations and aerial bombardment of the strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
