Justice Department Unseals Terrorism Charges Against Hamas Leaders

Latest Developments

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions evasion charges against six Hamas leaders on September 3 in connection with the Iran-backed terror group’s October 7 atrocities. The defendants are Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshal, and Ali Baraka. Issa died in a targeted Israeli strike in Gaza in March, followed by Deif in July. Haniyeh was eliminated on July 31 while on a visit to Tehran, in an attack widely presumed to have been carried out by Israel. However, Sinwar, Meshal, and Baraka remain at large. Baraka is based in Lebanon, while Meshal resides in Qatar, frequently traveling to Turkey to liaise with Turkish officials. Qatar and Turkey are both American allies, and Turkey is also a member of NATO, raising questions as to whether Washington will exert due pressure on Doha and Ankara.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated on September 3 that 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.” Referencing the murder of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Hamas captivity, Garland said that the United States is “investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism.”

Expert Analysis

“These indictments should have been made public more than 10 months ago. The question now is what comes next. Will there be a massive reward issued for Sinwar? Will Qatar, Turkey, and Lebanon be pressured to turn over Mashal and Baraka? Will there be more indictments, including a crackdown on the Hamas networks inside the United States?” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“Under normal circumstances, an allied NATO country like Turkey would not provide a safe haven and material support to an entity like Hamas and its leadership. Instead, it would work with the United States to ensure that the extremist organization has no place on Turkish soil and in the region. However, Turkey has opted to espouse Hamas’s murderous values, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan frequently professes. Turkey will not work to apprehend Mashal or any other Hamas operative that resides in or transits through the country. On its airwaves recently, Turkey’s TRT public broadcaster augmented Mashal’s call for more suicide bombers to strike Israel. The Turkish government sides 100 percent with team Hamas.” — Sinan Ciddi, FDD Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Qatar sided with Hamas and endorsed its takeover of Gaza in 2007. Since then, Doha has provided political and financial assistance to the Islamist group, pumping at least $1.8 billion into Gaza’s Hamas-run government. Hamas also maintains a political office in Doha, where several of the group’s senior leaders live in luxury. Doha held “Israel alone responsible” for Hamas’s October 7 terrorist atrocities and hosted Haniyeh’s funeral in early August.

Hamas established a presence in Turkey in 2011 with the permission of the Turkish government. Since then, Ankara has provided Hamas with significant funding, materiel, and political support. Erdogan considers Hamas terrorists “freedom fighters” and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “butcher” and “war criminal.” In a display of solidarity, Turkish embassies in Israel and the United States lowered their flags to half-mast last month to mourn Haniyeh’s death.

Yahya Sinwar, Khaled Meshal, and Ali Baraka

Yahya Sinwar has served as Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017. Israel considers him to be the main mastermind of Hamas’s October 7 assault. Sinwar was serving multiple life terms for the killing of two Israeli soldiers when Israel released him in 2011 as part of a deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, whom Hamas had held captive for five years. Last month, Sinwar replaced Haniyeh as Hamas’s political chief, consolidating his control of the terrorist group.

Khaled Meshal is a founding member of Hamas. He became the group’s external political chief in 2004 and was appointed in 2021 to fill a new role within Hamas, effectively its foreign minister. Israel attempted to assassinate Meshal in Jordan in 1997.

Ali Baraka is the head of Hamas’s National Relations Abroad and previously served as Hamas’s representative in Lebanon. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Baraka in December 2023 in coordination with the United Kingdom.

“Hamas’s Top Terrorist Leadership,” FDD Insight

“10 Things to Know About Hamas and Qatar,” FDD Insight

“10 Things to Know About Hamas and Turkey,” FDD Insight

“10 Things to Know About Hamas,” FDD Insight