news

china news service, september 4, according to comprehensive foreign media reports, according to the indictment released on september 3 local time, the us department of justice has filed "terrorist attacks" and other related charges against several leaders of the palestinian islamic resistance movement (hamas) in connection with the october 7, 2023 attack.

according to cnn and the new york times, the defendants in the indictment include hamas leaders yahya sinwar, ismail haniyeh, mohammed masri, marwan issa, khaled meshaal and ali baraka. they face a total of seven charges, including "terrorism, conspiracy to murder american nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in deaths."

a u.s. justice department official also said on the same day that the charges were originally filed on february 1, 2024, but had remained sealed. however, "after the death of (hamas political bureau leader) haniyeh, and in light of recent developments in the region, there is no longer a need to keep these charges confidential."

cnn noted that three of the accused hamas leaders have died. according to previous reports, hamas confirmed on july 31 that its political bureau leader haniyeh was killed in an attack in the iranian capital tehran early that morning.

u.s. prosecutors also said, "as of the date of the indictment, at least 43 u.s. citizens had been murdered and 10 u.s. citizens were taken hostage or were missing."

at present, hamas has not responded to this news.

on october 7, 2023, a new round of military conflict broke out between israel and hamas. so far, this round of conflict has caused a large number of casualties on both sides.