The US has charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other key figures in the Palestinian group in connection with its deadly attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
The Justice Department has indicted six Hamas members on seven charges, including the murder of US citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism, and the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The criminal complaint encompasses decades of alleged Hamas attacks, including the unprecedented assault on southern Israel nearly a year ago.
This represents the first effort by US law enforcement to hold the ringleaders of the October 7 attack accountable, though up to three individuals named in the indictment are deceased, and Sinwar is believed to be hiding in tunnels beneath Gaza.
In a video statement on Tuesday, Mr Garland said the defendants were responsible for “financing and directing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States”.
The group also “led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim”.
He noted the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, in which the group “murdered entire families” in “the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”.
“They murdered the elderly and they murdered young children. They weaponised sexual violence against women, including rape and genital mutilation.”
He stated that during the attack, the group “murdered over 1,200 people” and “committed the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
Other Hamas leaders charged include former leader Ismail Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of the organization’s armed wing; Khaled Mashaal, who leads the group outside Gaza and the West Bank; as well as Mohammed Deif and Ali Baraka.
The charges include conspiracy to bomb a public place resulting in death, conspiracy to finance terrorism, and material support for terrorism resulting in death.
The Justice Department’s complaint notes that all the “defendants are either deceased or remain at large.”
Haniyeh, Issa, and Deif have all been reported killed in recent months, with their deaths either claimed by or attributed to Israel.
In his remarks on Tuesday, the Attorney General also referenced the killing of US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, along with 42 other American citizens killed in the October 7 attack and 10 who were taken hostage.
“We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism,” Mr Garland said.
If convicted, the group faces a maximum penalty of life in prison or a death sentence.
The charges were filed in February, but were kept under wraps until Tuesday in case the US had the opportunity to arrest any of the accused, an unnamed justice department official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas killing of Goldberg-Polin, calling it “as tragic as it is reprehensible”.
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Mr Biden said.
Meanwhile, the UK has defended its decision to ban certain weapons sales to Israel due to concerns about their potential use in Gaza.
On October 7, Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.
Since then, over 40,000 people have reportedly been killed in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing military campaign, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.