US charges Hamas leaders over Oct. 7 attack on Israel

(Reuters) -The United States announced criminal charges on Tuesday against Hamas' top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.

The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group's chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the Oct. 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.

That attack triggered an Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians and laid waste to much of the territory.

"As outlined in our complaint, those defendants -- armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from (Hezbollah) - have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The complaint names six defendants, three of whom are deceased. The living defendants are Sinwar, who is believed to be in hiding in Gaza; Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Doha and heads the group's diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.

The deceased defendants are former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who the group says was assassinated in July in Tehran; military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel says it killed in a July airstrike; and Marwan Issa, a deputy military commander who Israel said it killed in a March strike.

Iran has blamed Israel for Haniyeh's death. Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility.

U.S. prosecutors brought charges against the six men in February, but kept the complaint under seal in hopes of capturing Haniyeh, according to a Justice Department official.

The Justice Department decided to go public with the charges after Haniyeh's death.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; editing by Rami Ayyub and Eric Beech)