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[text/observer network chen sijia] according to the associated press, on september 4 local time, the u.s. department of justice announced criminal charges against six senior members of the palestinian islamic resistance movement (hamas) leadership, accusing them of "launching a terrorist attack on israel on october 7 last year." since hamas leaders are unlikely to appear in court, the impact of this case may only be symbolic.

hamas has not yet responded to the us department of justice's allegations.

according to reports, the u.s. federal court in new york filed a total of seven criminal charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, conspiracy to murder u.s. citizens, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction to cause death, etc. the indictment also accused iran and lebanon's hezbollah of providing financial and weapons support to hamas, including rockets and other military supplies.

the indictment describes the "al-aqsa flood" operation launched by hamas on october 7 last year as "the most violent and largest terrorist attack in the organization's history", claiming that hamas carried out "brutal acts of violence including sexual assaults and close-range machine gun shootings" in southern israel.

the u.s. department of justice said the lawsuit was initially filed in secret in february this year in order to find an opportunity to arrest ismail haniyeh, the then leader of the hamas political bureau. but after haniyeh was killed in an attack and other developments in the region "reduced the need for confidentiality", the lawsuit was made public on september 3 local time.

u.s. attorney general merrick garland stated: "the charges announced today are only part of our efforts against hamas, and these actions will not be our last... we are investigating every case of killing americans and treating it as an act of terrorism. we will continue to support the government and do our best to help detained americans return home."

in addition to haniyeh, the u.s. department of justice filed charges against current hamas politburo leader yahya sinwar, hamas military leader mohammed dave, hamas deputy military commander marwan issa, former hamas politburo leader khaled mashaal, and hamas foreign relations chief ali baraka.

among the six people charged, haniya was killed in an attack in tehran, iran in july, issa was allegedly killed in an israeli airstrike in march, and dave was allegedly killed in an israeli airstrike in july. however, osama hamdan, a senior hamas official, denied dave's death to the associated press on august 15, saying that dave is currently "safe and sound."

since mashaal may be based in qatar, baraka in lebanon and sinwar is believed to be hiding in underground tunnels in the gaza strip, the charges filed by the u.s. department of justice may be symbolic. but the associated press quoted u.s. officials as saying that the u.s. government is expected to take more actions as part of the u.s. "fight against extremist organizations."

as of now, hamas has not responded to the charges brought by the us department of justice.

the united states, qatar and egypt are working on a new gaza ceasefire and exchange of detained personnel proposals in an attempt to broker a ceasefire between israel and hamas. a u.s. official told the associated press that the u.s. believes there is "no reason to believe these allegations will affect the ongoing negotiations."

the ceasefire negotiations in gaza have been going on for several months, but israel and hamas have not yet reached an agreement. the israeli government insists on maintaining control over the "philadelphia corridor" at the border between the gaza strip and egypt and the "netzarim corridor" in central gaza, while hamas demands that israel withdraw its troops.

hamas chief negotiator khalil haya reiterated to al jazeera on the 1st that the organization will not sign a ceasefire agreement unless israel completely withdraws from the gaza strip.

data released by the gaza strip health department showed that since october 7 last year, israel's attacks on the gaza strip have killed more than 40,000 palestinians and injured 94,000. official data released by the israeli government said that about 1,200 people on the israeli side died.

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